Yuki Ikuto Drabbles Part 2
by Animation Universe 2005
Summary: Second part of the drabbles where Yuki's love for Ikuto grows stronger...even in the face of fear and torment. For Master of Stories!
1. Prologue: Still Going Strong

Off the awesome support for the first drabble of Yuki/Ikuto, I decided to go for a second parter where it's set three years later as they're deeply in love, but Yuki's got a huge ordeal; dealing with a crazed, controlling violent criminal named Kuzan. For Master of Stories, enjoy part 2!

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Yuki/Ikuto Drabbles, pt. 2

Terrell James

Prologue: Still Going Strong

3 years have passed since Ikuto and Yuki have been dating and in a relationship with each other and they've come a long way from overcoming their awkward shyness towards each other when they were teenagers (Yuki was 16 and Ikuto was 17) and on their way to become young adults who are still going strong in their relationship.

Ikuto has been a huge part of the Bushido-Akio's and he could see himself a part of the family for the rest of his life and with Yuki, he wants nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her and he couldn't imagine anyone else but her by his side. They've faced a couple of challenges as boyfriend and girlfriend together, but both knew that they would do anything for each other and lift them up when one of them is down.

They've been dating several times before and they made some very magical moments together, despite being spied on by Akashi's soul spirits, Jeff and Lulu numerous times before, but always managed to keep their cool towards those two in case they're trying to ruin the moment. Mounds of going out for walks, watching the sunset and the stars, out to eat or picnics and visits in each other's houses made for sweet dates and memories, despite having Akashi as a chaperone for most of the dates.

Yuki has been extremely faithful towards Ikuto and remains absolutely faithful and loyal towards him, for better or worse and the same went to Ikuto as he also remains fully faithful towards Yuki no matter what circumstances they face.

Now...Yuki is faced with a huge issue of her own; dealing with a very manipulative, abusive and all-around cruel guy that has been threatening her since she was 18 and has gotten stalked, beaten, threatened and tied up for so many times before.

Even though she loves Ikuto and would never do anything to hurt him, this particular cruel, powerful cougar would force her to break Ikuto's heart, but whenever she refuses, she receives a huge amount of beatings, scratches and injuries sustained by this maniac abuser.

The only thing that has kept her strong was Ikuto...the only guy she loves and will always love and hopes to one day break off this jaguar's clutches and remain safe in Ikuto's arms, but that cougar won't let him do so because he places stupid lies on her head; saying that wolves have hatred towards tigers, that Ikuto is taking full advantage of her, Ikuto is an abuser and that they don't mate with tigers because it's 'genetically impossible'.

Despite taking a full amount of beatings from this jaguar, she would always think about Ikuto and hopes that she'll get out of this jaguar's control. But kept her ordeal a secret from everyone in her family...especially Ikuto.

Whenever that cougar sees Yuki and Ikuto together, holding hands and kissing...rage and disgust seep through his mind and wants nothing more than to dominate her and get Ikuto out of the way, even if it means killing both of them.

The cougar's name...? Kuzan.

* * *

And so it begins! Let the big story begin!


	2. Kuzan

This is where we begin this story...with Kuzan's twisted, violent controlling ways towards Yuki. She still loves Ikuto, but Kuzan is trying to get her to himself.

* * *

Kuzan

One evening, 19-year old Yuki Bushido-Akio Okami was sitting on a cave, looking completely miserable and defenseless because she's stuck on Kuzan's cavern haven by his orders and she wanted to get out of there and head home, but sadly...he won't let her go because he's too afraid and too full of rage to let her get away that she might tell someone what happened and he's not gonna let her go anywhere...almost as if she's his personal prisoner.

Before long, Kuzan brought in four girls; ages between 16-19 that he's dragging them in and Yuki sees this and she doesn't like the sight of it. Kuzan notices Yuki's very disapproving look and he leaves the girls and heads straight to her and puts his fist on the wall, inching close to her head with a vicious snarl and said, "You got something to say?"

"What are you doing with them?" asked Yuki, angrily.

"Bitch, that's none of your business." Kuzan responded back, with a menacing snarl.

That snarl made Yuki back down and just lays her head down, yet that only enraged Kuzan even further and just grabbed her by the head and said, "Look at me! Don't you lay your damn head down! I tell you to lay your head down when I say you do! Now...I'll be back to deal with you after I deal with these four bitches, so you better not go anywhere!"

He then shoved her down the ground and smacked her on the rear end as a serious warning and Kuzan walks back with the four girls and he put on the nice, polite guy act and said, "Sorry, girls. She won't interfere with us any longer."

But little did these four girls know that underneath that polite smile masks a very dark and ferocious beast hidden there and Yuki didn't know what she was gonna do, but she knows that it's gonna be horrible. Her first instinct was to warn the girls, but with Kuzan under her control, she couldn't take that task because of his intimidating nature.

Five minutes later, they heard girls screaming and Kuzan roaring, whipping and smacking them and Kuzan screaming and cursing at the girls and mounds of threats coming at them left and right and Yuki knew that this was something going down even though she doesn't know why's he doing this.

"Why are you doing this to us?!"

"Help me!"

"Let us out of here!"

Yuki heard the girls' cries helplessly from above and she knows that she has to stop him and she hates the fact that she can't do anything about it...unless there's a better option.

"You girls shut up! You're gonna do what I say and how I say it! Don't make me use my fire-flaming sword to strike at you! You wouldn't like it if I put it up to your heads, wouldn't I?" Kuzan said, roaring uncontrollably.

Now that did it. Yuki got herself up, then quietly snuck out to get help for the girls and she ran to find help as soon as possible before Kuzan even knew she was gone. However...a couple of Kuzan's followers caught her running from above and they come down to warn him that Kuzan's gonna get found out.

A couple of minutes went by and Yuki was still roaming around to find someone to help these poor girls and as she quietly wanders around the forest, she saw six Crimson Moon members and she immediately knew that they'd help her because they're trained under Akashi. However, if the Crimson Moon members found out about this, the first thing they'd do is report it to Akashi about her being abused. But she wasn't gonna take any chances whatsoever and immediately followed them.

But just as she was gonna get their attention, some of Kuzan's lackies captured her and attacked her all while she was screaming for help. Unfortunately for her, the Crimson Members just left and she lost sight of them and she screamed as loud as she could to get their attention, but was unsuccessful no matter how hard she tried. Those lackeys punched and slapped her straight to the face to get her to stop screaming in fears of getting caught.

Meanwhile, one of the Crimson Moon members heard something in the distance and suspects that there might be something wrong happening and he looks at the other members and asked, "You guys hear something?"

"Hear what?" asked another.

"I don't hear anything." another member chimed in.

Soon, the screaming faded and one of those Crimson Moon members that heard the screaming was distraught that it was gone and one of them went to him and said, "You're probably just hearing things. It's probably nothing."

"Yeah, let's head back home. I need some sleep." another one agreed.

The only witness to hear the screaming felt completely torn about this, but didn't want to push the issue further so he just shook it off, despite that guilty conscience gnawing at him and just walks away with his ears drooping in disappointment.

* * *

Minutes later

Yuki was being dragged by Kuzan's assistants and Yuki tried to hard to fight them off, but they refused to let her go until they faced Kuzan and once they saw him, one of the assistants threw her where he was standing and one of them said, "We caught her following some guys."

"Very good. Have the night off." Kuzan said, looking at his assistants.

As they left, Kuzan looked at Yuki with a very angry look and he said, "You think you're just gonna turn me in and send me back to jail? There's no way in hell you're gonna do that to me."

"I don't even want to be here anymore!" Yuki shouted.

"It's like that, huh? So you'd go back to that berserker molester? You know what they'll do to a pitiful tigress like you? You're nothing without me...and if you dare leave me for that...that...that bitch of a wolf, you've got another thing coming!" Kuzan shouted back, grabbing her.

Yuki wasn't gonna talk to him, so she walked away from him and headed for home and that set off Kuzan and he immediately went after her, grabbing her by the tail and slamming her down on walls, punching, slapping and throwing her down to the wall, pinning her and he attempts to remove her clothes, but she fought him off as she tried to make a getaway, but he grabbed her by the sides and dragged her towards the steepest parts of the cliff attempts to drop her down a 200-foot ledge.

Yuki was screaming hysterically and Kuzan held a dagger close to her throat and said, "This is how you're gonna leave me. But with your throat slithered out of your neck if you scream. Now...are you gonna stay? ARE YOU?!"

Yuki was basically defenseless and powerless as she gave in and once she did, Kuzan puts away his dagger and leaves her there, leaving Yuki curled up and crying.

* * *

Hours later

Yuki snuck out of the cave and went home, beaten and bloodied up and as she went her way home, she saw one of the Crimson members coming and she silently walked to face him and once that Crimson member who heard some screaming turned around to see a very beaten Yuki, he realized that the person that was screaming for help was actually Yuki...much to his shock.

"Yuki?" asked the Crimson member witness.

Yuki broke down crying as she went towards that one member and she said, "Suko..."

Suko came over to her and comforted her as he ripped out a piece of his sleeve and wrapped it around her arm and he asked, "What happened?"

"Can you please...take me to Ikuto's house?" asked Yuki, whimpering.

"Of course." Suko replied.

Suko helped Yuki walk out of the forest on the way to the Yashida's house and Suko said, "If I had known it was you screaming, I would've acted immediately."

"I wanted to tell you...that there were four girls held captive in that cave. They might still be there, but I'm not sure if they're still in danger or if...that monster set him free and forced them to deny it." Yuki answered.

"I'll look into it. For now, let's get you to Ikuto." Suko said.

"Please don't tell this to my parents or Akashi. I don't want them to find out because if they did, I'd get killed." Yuki said, whimpering.

"I don't know. They might have a right to know." Suko stated.

A couple of minutes later, they finally made it to the Yashida's place and when Suko knocked on the door, blood was coming down Yuki's face and nose, dripping out of there and when the door opened, they saw a very horrified Lei standing there in shock and she asked, "Yuki?"

* * *

And next chapter...Yuki spends the night at the Yashida's house. Stay tuned for more!


	3. Protected by Ikuto

And Yuki is safe in the presence of the Yashida family and Yuki tells them about her ordeal.

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Protected by Ikuto

Suko brought Yuki over to the house and Lei was mortified to see that she was bloodied up, beaten and completely torn and that was the hugest ordeal she had to see and Lei said, "Where'd you find her?"

"She found me. I saw her walking this way as I walked around the forest not too long ago. I had thought I heard someone scream for help earlier tonight, but the rest of the members didn't want to deal with what's happening because they were exhausted. So I was the only one to find who needed some assistance and when I found out that it was Yuki just now, I was shocked at how she was." Suko replied.

Lei couldn't imagine someone doing something like this to Yuki and she also couldn't imagine how Ikuto would react if he saw her like this and she whispered, "Ikuto's not gonna like this. I'm glad you came over when you did."

"Just make sure that she's safe." Suko added.

Lei nodded at this and she said, "Thank you. I'm sure that whoever did this to her will receive an earful."

Suko nodded and then bowed to her and leaves the door, leaving both Lei and Yuki in the same place and she looked at Yuki, walks over to her and she immediately brought in some fresh towels to help stop the bleeding and Lei said, "Who did this to you?"

Yuki was terrified about what would happen if she did tell because she'd risk getting beaten up by Kuzan again and it would be 25 times more worse than before and she said, "You don't want to know. I don't want Ikuto to see me like this."

"My son's a protector. He'll do anything to protect the people he cares about." Lei added.

Soon enough, they both heard some footsteps from upstairs and Lei turned around to see Ikuto walking from the stairs and she said, "Son...come down here."

"What's going on?" asked Ikuto, walking down the stairs.

Yuki slowly faced Ikuto as her blood spilled out of her face and then, she noticed Ikuto looking at her and he froze for a second full of shock and horror that she has marks, blood spots, scratches and every ounce of minor and/or major injuries she has gotten and Ikuto gasped in full-on horror and covered his mouth with his paw to see that the beautiful face that he fell in love with was battered and bruised by someone or something.

He slowly walked over to her and couldn't believe what he was seeing and he asked, in a shaky voice, "Who did this to you?"

Yuki's eyes were filled with tears and she said, "It's my fault. If I had left sooner..."

"Yuki, who did this to you?" asked Ikuto.

"I...I can't tell you." Yuki answered.

Ikuto got down on his knee and placed a gentle hand on her arm and once Yuki saw his gesture, she felt a source of peace and calm with a concerned mixture on Ikuto and it shows how much he really cares for her and he said, "Yuki, tell me who did this to you. Whoever did this to you...please tell us."

Yuki was a little fearful of what would happen if she told them, but at the same time...she needs to end the suffering she's been enduring for so long and she's not always one to keep quiet about the whole thing and she looked at Ikuto in the eye and said, "I've been beaten, stalked, harrassed, threatened and harmed by someone who claims that I should be his mate...Kuzan."

That didn't sit well with Ikuto at all and the fact that someone claims to own her got him all steamed up and he said, "How long did he do this?"

"18 months. I never wanted to be in a relationship with him and each time I refused, he'd beat me and threaten to kill me and my family if I didn't leave you for him. But I would never leave you for anyone else." Yuki answered.

"You're a very strong cookie." Lei said, amazed.

"I swear...if I find this guy to hurt you, he'll get what's coming to him. Make no mistake about it." Ikuto said.

Yuki was very glad that he told Ikuto and Lei about this and she went closer to him and hugged him and Ikuto responded by hugging her back, although the grip on her injured arm caused her to wince a little and Yuki said, "Bad arm."

Ikuto suddenly realized that her arm was already bandaged and said, "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." Yuki replied.

"Does your parents know?" asked Lei.

Yuki folded her ears down and she shook her head, stating 'no' and she replied, "If I had told them about it, Kuzan would kill them before he could kill me."

"You have to tell them. They're all really worried about you." Lei stated.

Yuki knew that she would have to tell her parents eventually about this, but still holds the fear of having them get killed by Kuzan first and Ikuto tells her, "If he does try to kill them, he won't have much luck."

"Just tonight, I saw that he had four girls in his cave and I heard them screaming and got beaten, whipped, ripped and taken advantaged of. I could've done something to stop." Yuki added.

Lei was shocked and disgusted to know what sorts of thing this person was doing to them and she said, "What did he do to these poor, innocent girls?"

"I didn't see what he was doing to them, but I know that he did something horrible to them." Yuki replied.

"Wait a minute...I heard from some of Akashi's Crimson members that this crazed, violent criminal had escaped from Chor-Gum Prison to find more victims to stalk, beat, control, manipulate, rape and kill them. Come to think of it, his name was..." Ikuto began, then sunk in the realization that the person Yuki was being beaten and victimized by was that particular criminal.

"Did he say that he can't go back to jail?" asked Lei.

"Yes, he did." Yuki replied.

"Well...looks like we'll have an alternative to that." Ikuto added.

Lei could tell that Ikuto's gonna do all he can to protect Yuki, yet at the same time she knows what alternative he's talking about and she said, "For now...Yuki can stay with us."

"Yuki will be safe with me in my room." Ikuto said.

Yuki found the strength to get herself and stand by Ikuto's side and Lei said to him, "Only if she sleeps on the floor. Goodness knows what would happen if Yuki was on your bed."

"Mom..." Ikuto said, blushing.

"I'm okay with sleeping on the floor." Yuki responded.

* * *

Even after a serious ordeal, the awkwardness between Yuki and Ikuto are still the same, but they're deeply in love. Stay tuned to see how this goes.


	4. Protect You Always

And some time alone with Ikuto and Yuki...and a sworn promise that Ikuto will protect Yuki.

* * *

Protect You Always

Ikuto helped set an extra mattress to his room and set it down on the ground, a few inches closer to his bed and Lei brought in some blankets and pillows for Yuki to sleep in as well and as they helped set it up, Yuki comes out of the shower and heads to his room, wearing some of Ikuto's old shorts and vests and she said, "Thanks for letting me wear your son's clothes tonight."

"No problem, Yuki. Ikuto outgrew those when he was 13, so they fit just about your size really well." Lei answered.

"Mom...you really didn't have to tell her that I outgrew my clothes." Ikuto said, embarrassed.

"Sorry, son." Lei said, pinching his cheeks.

"Mom..." Ikuto whined, feeling the pinch of his cheeks.

Yuki giggled at this and notices Lei's way of still seeing her son as her pup and she said, "It's nice to have a mother that cares about you."

"Yeah...if she doesn't show your baby pictures." Ikuto answered.

"Oh...you've got to see my son's baby pictures in the morning. They're so cute that I keep them on my sword box." Lei stated.

"Mom...no one wants to see my baby pictures. They're too embarrassing." Ikuto said, blushing harder.

"Well goodnight, son. Sleep tight, Yuki." Lei said, leaving the room for a while.

Ikuto sighed at this as Yuki gets on the mattress and lays down there and she said, "I can tell that you deal with this everyday."

"I love my mom to death, but sometimes when you're older, you know how they are. They still see you as their little cub." Ikuto answered.

"Even when you get older, they'll always have the image of you as a little cub." Yuki finished.

Ikuto was surprised to hear that response Yuki got and it's like they understood what that feels like and Yuki said, "Trust me. I've been there with my parents since I was 13. My mom usually shows most of my baby pictures to everyone she knows."

"But not your dad?" asked Ikuto.

"No. My dad would never dare show everyone he knows my baby pictures. He's not that kind of father that would do that to me." Yuki replied.

"You're lucky." Ikuto added.

Yuki lays back and looks up at the ceiling for a while and thinks about the ordeal she had faced about bailing out of Kuzan and also dealing with the repercussions about being one of his victims and she felt really ashamed of herself for not stepping up to stop this earlier tonight and Ikuto noticed a little bit of silence and sadness in Yuki and he slowly walked to her and he said, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I just...I just feel so ashamed of myself over everything that happened tonight." Yuki replied.

Ikuto disagreed with that and he said, "Don't beat yourself up for it. You escaped from that guy."

"Yeah, but it still hurts." Yuki answered.

Ikuto sighed at this and this was a first for him to deal with the fact that his beloved Yuki had been abused, tortured and beaten by this criminal and he asked, "Why didn't you tell me this had happened to you?"

Yuki sighed again and sat up as he looked at Ikuto in the eye and said, "I was scared, confused, fearful for my life and just ashamed that something like this happened to me. I didn't know how to tell you. I was afraid that if you thought I would have a relationship with that jerk that you'd...leave me forever."

"I would never leave you for anything. I knew something was wrong with you for a long time, but I didn't know what it was. But when you told me about this guy, I wanted to go out and find this guy and give him a lesson on how to treat other girls and then throw him off a cliff." Ikuto answered.

"And another reason why I didn't tell you; Kuzan threatened me not to. He said if I told you or my family about this, he'd not only kill me, but he'll kill my entire family and everyone I care about as a capital punishment...and that he'd slit my throat and rape me." Yuki answered.

Something tells Ikuto that there was a lot more happening and he said, "Tell me everything."

Yuki then explained everything about how she had endured all the mental, physical and emotional scars that she had carried through those 18 months being abused, stalked, harrassed and mistreated by Kuzan and Ikuto's jaw dropped as Yuki explains some pretty explicit things that Kuzan would do to her or make her do and in most of those were refused and she'd get locked up for 12 hours, beaten with a metal object, threatened to get burned or thrown into a volcano and then manipulating her with some false facts about her family beheading her, saying that they don't care about her or hate her and also some lies about Ikuto and how Kuzan tells her that he's a molesting monster that rapes innocent girls and that a wolf shouldn't get romantically involved wth a tiger because it's against the laws of nature and the big lie Kuzan made that Ikuto is a serial rapist and murderer and that literally made Ikuto sick to his stomach that Kuzan would manipulate her like that.

"I didn't really believe any of those lies he told because they're just plain stupid anyway. I may be young, but I'm not stupid. I know that you have a really good heart and that you do love me and would never do anything to hurt me." Yuki said.

Ikuto immediately hugged her tightly and said, "You know that I would never do any of those things that that jerk said. I would never do anything to hurt you, Yuki. I made a promise to myself to protect you no matter what."

"I know you have. And you're the only guy in the whole entire world for me." Yuki agreed.

Ikuto sighed heavily as his ears drooped down and said, "Gods forbid, if something had happened to you and I wasn't there to protect you in time, I would never forgive myself. There's nothing I would love better other than spending the rest of my life with you. And who cares if something thinks we shouldn't be together? They don't matter at all. Akashi and Miyo are different species and they love each other. It's no different for both of us."

Yuki held onto his paw as his was on her shoulder and she said, "Promise you'll never leave me by my side."

"I promise." Ikuto whispered.

With that, both of them kissed each other on the lips very tenderly and after that, Yuki loved the feeling of it and she said, "I wish we can have moments like this."

"Yeah. Maybe when we're married, we can have some extra moments together alone." Ikuto said, smiling.

Ikuto went forward towards her mattress and kissed her on the forehead and whispered, "Good night, Yuki."

"Good night, Ikuto." Yuki answered.

Ikuto then got back on his bed and laid down as he looked at the ceiling and asked, "I'm somewhat of a snorer when I sleep. Hopefully, that doesn't bother you."

"Not at all. I snore too. Plus...I know I'll have a dream about you when I fall asleep." Yuki replied.

"Me too." Ikuto replied, with a smile.

* * *

So sweet! Stay tuned to see Yuki dreaming about Ikuto!


	5. Dreaming About Ikuto

We see Yuki dreaming about spending the rest of her life with Ikuto.

* * *

Dreaming About Ikuto

As Yuki fell asleep on that mattress in Ikuto's room, she felt more safe and secure that he's here asleep, even though they're not in the same bed. Besides all that, every single part of her really wants to spend eternity with him and she still loves him and everytime she thinks about him, it's like walking into a beautiful dream that she hopes that she'll never wake up to.

As she fell into a deep sleep, she begins dreaming about all the times that she spent time with him and what their future would be like.

_Yuki's dream_

_Yuki was walking around an open field, just taking in the beauty of the sunset and frolics around the hill, with her sunny silver pink dress with the ripples on the side and the wind blows through the dress and her fur and as she walks by, she hears someone call her name._

_"Yuki..."_

_Yuki knew that voice from somewhere and immediately ran to find where it came from and as she got closer towards the forest, she stops and sees someone sitting on a hill and as the sun sets, she sees Ikuto looking at her, very lovingly with a smile on his face wearing a black tank top with grey shorts and Yuki stares at him, with the wind blowing through Ikuto's fur, with a swooning sigh._

_She made her way to the top of the hill and stood face-to-face with Ikuto and with smiles on both of their faces, Ikuto gently stroked her face and placed his hand on her chest and he said to her, "I love you, Yuki. I've always had feelings for you since the first day I met you."_

_Yuki felt completely the same way Ikuto felt and it's like her heart skipped a beat once she heard Ikuto's words and she said, "And I feel the same way too. When you look at me, my heart skips a beat. When I hear your voice, my soul melts. You touch me and...I feel weak in the knees. Not physically, but something that I couldn't describe in words."_

_Ikuto placed his arms around her and came closer to her and said, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_

_"I want to spend eternity with you too." Yuki said, smiling._

_Both of them placed their foreheads towards each other and Ikuto kissed her on the lips and Yuki melted into the kiss and they embraced each other as the sun begins to turn into night and the moon comes out, shining its light towards the both of them and their tender kiss kept going and going._

_And fast forward years later...Yuki and Ikuto were happily married with their six cubs looking at the sunset together and just enjoying a perfect life that they live; full of happiness, love and peace all in one, hand in hand and then...fast-forward later in life that they're in their old age as they professed their strong love for each other until the end of their days._

The dream then fades back to reality and as Yuki was asleep, she was smiling because that was the future that she will someday look forward to have with Ikuto.

* * *

Sweet dream, huh? Next up...Ikuto dreams about Yuki!


	6. Dreaming About Yuki

Since Yuki dreamed about Ikuto, let's see Ikuto dreaming about Yuki. It's gonna be a sweet one!

* * *

Dreaming About Yuki

As Ikuto fell asleep, he was dreaming the same thing about Yuki and their love for each other has flourished into something wonderful and amazing and it's because of his undying love for her and in his heart, he knew that she was the one for him because her beauty, kind heart and spirit about her just caught his attention and captured his heart despite their different species. Sometimes his shyness would would often get the best of him because it's a girl involved and because she's Akashi's niece that he would never get a chance to spend forever with her, but in many ways...Yuki's acceptance of him just as he is really shined through and looked past whatever insecurities he has and focused on his good heart and protective nature and he would do anything and everything to make sure she's taken care of.

After seeing her face battered and bruised, he thought that he lost her for good, but really thankful that she's still alive and doing fine and that she still loves him and has remained loyal and faithful to him. As he slept, he dreamt about what the future would be like for both him and Yuki together.

_Ikuto's dream_

_Ikuto lays down on the grass and just looks up at the skies, thinking about Yuki and as he watched the clouds go by, he starts thinking about how he wants to spend the rest of his life with her and he knows that Yuki's the reason for his newfound love and that she cares about him the same way he cares about her._

_"Ikuto?"_

_Ikuto's ears perked up as he sits up and sees Yuki in the most beautiful outfit he's ever seen and it made his heart stop and his tail wag everytime he sees her and as Yuki comes over to him, he was sweating...for shyness reasons. But he knew that he mustered up the courage to just open up his heart to the one he loves and he said, "Yuki...you're so beautiful to me."_

_Yuki giggled in response and she sits next to him and she said, "Thank you. You're so sweet and handsome."_

_Ikuto blinked his eyes a few times and when he looks at her, every ounce of beauty just overwhelms him and his heart is set on her and their future together and when the clouds builded up, Ikuto felt Yuki's hand on his chest and he blushed a little, but just enjoyed the moment and he placed her paw on his own and he said, "Yuki...all I want more than anything is to be with you until the end of time."_

_"I want that too, Ikuto. I've always had feelings for you since day one." Yuki answered._

_"Yeah...but I always thought you'd be better off with another guy who's more stronger, better-looking and treats you better. Like someone in your own species instead of a wolf like me." Ikuto said, ears drooping._

_Yuki stared at him for a few seconds, then placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "There's no other guy in the world for me except for you. Believe it or not, I always thought that you weren't good enough for a tigress like me and that there would be hundreds of girls surrounding you." Yuki added._

_"Yuki...no other girl would ever love me like you do. I would never make you feel like you're not good enough. When you're happy, I'm happy. Whenever you feel sad, I'll always be there to comfort you. When you feel lonely, you'll always have me by your side. There's no one else in the world that I'd spend my life with other than you." Ikuto added, holding her shoulder._

_Just then, they heard the thunder crashing, but neither of them cared about it as they kept looking at each other deeply and leaned in for a kiss and seconds later, the rain starts pouring down hard and their fur and clothes were soaked, but it didn't matter to them as they kissed in the rain. Their kiss went from deeply tender and sweet to passion within several seconds as their tongues are wrapped around each other's mouths and held each other tightly._

_After a full-on 12 minute kiss, Ikuto looked at Yuki in the eye as the rain pours down on them and they walked down the hill, hand in hand and each promising that they'll always be by their side and as they headed towards the forest, they stopped for a while as Ikuto got down on one knee, held Yuki's hand and brought out a silver tiger ring and asked, "Will you marry me?"_

_Yuki was shocked and happy to hear what he just asked and tears were coming out of her eyes in complete joy and she looked at Ikuto in the eye and replied, "Yes."_

_It felt really great for Ikuto to receive a yes from Yuki and he placed the ring on her finger and she said, "It's beautiful."_

_"Just like you are." Ikuto answered._

_He stood up again and kissed Yuki on the lips again as she hugged him tightly as they were in the rainforest and the rain fell down through the leaves as they embraced each other...as the scene shifts to them kissing on their wedding as they're pronounced husband and wife and walked out holding hands in front of their loved ones and another scene shifts to them having a family of their own; six kids. Two boys, two girls, one boy and one girl; both wolves and tigers, one wolf-tiger hybrid and a tiger-wolf hybrid, just living the beautiful life together as a married couple._

And then...we head back to reality where Ikuto's asleep and is completely happy about where the future can lead them to and he whispered, "Yuki..."

'I promise, Yuki...that I will never let anyone hurt you.' Ikuto thought to himself.

* * *

Awesome dreams! Next up, we'll see Akashi's reaction when he finds out about Yuki being Kuzan's victim.


	7. Search for Yuki

Now...we see Akashi's reaction to the entire thing.

* * *

Search for Yuki

Meanwhile, in that secluded cave, Kuzan's crew were searching high and low for Yuki and they searched through every wooded area around the forest to find her, but to no avail. As they were searching, Kuzan was getting completely irritated that she left and he could see that he's severely miffed at this and she said, "Think she has the right to sneak out without my permission? Not on my watch. When I find her, I swear she'll think twice before leaving my domain."

But as his rage was bubbling up, his deranged mind assumed the worst that she might've left and told someone about what he put her through and ran to Ikuto and that would be the only possibility he might have. With a severe mixture of pure jealousy and rage, he knew that there would be bloodshed if he found her.

"Kuzan! Someone is coming to look for those four girls!" one crew member said.

That definitely sent Kuzan to a huge tizzy that someone is coming and he said, "Do whatever you have to do to keep him away!"

"Yes, sir!" the crew member exclaimed.

All of Kuzan's lackeys were going in after that someone who's going to find those four girls and they were gonna take him down anyway he can, unaware that that person has already gotten those four girls before someone tipped him off. Under the shadows, that someone was Suko...the one Crimson Moon member hiding under a dark cave with the four victims to keep them hidden and safe until the coast was clear.

Once Suko looked by and silence was everywhere, it was good to go and he lead the girls out so they won't be seen or caught by Kuzan's crew and Suko whispered, "Come on."

All four of the victims followed Suko and as they kept going, they were doing everything they can to remain under Kuzan's radar and after several minutes of remaining silent, they finally managed to escape from view and headed out of the forest and back to the villages. Suko then said to them, "You guys are safe now."

"Thank you." one of the victims responded.

"We're gonna take you to a safe place until your loved ones come and find you." Suko added.

With that, he took them over to the Crimson Wolf headquarters and as they were coming in, in comes Akashi coming downstairs and is surprised by who Suko brought to the door and he asked, "What's going on?"

"These four girls were being held against their will and some of them had been raped or assaulted." Suko replied.

Once Akashi saw their faces, it's very clear that they had suffered through a very terrible ordeal they faced and he quickly said, "Take them to our shelters for the night."

"Yes, sir." Suko said, as he took them to the shelters.

A few minutes later, Suko walked back to the main headquarters and saw Akashi coming over to talk to him and as he walked over, Akashi asked, "How'd you find them?"

"A source told me that they're hiding in a secluded cave from a quarter mile away from our headquarters and from what the victims told me, one of them said that she was terrified to see him again because she recognized his face from before he went to jail again." Suko replied.

Akashi raised an eyebrow in response and asked, "And he had escaped?"

"Yes. Turns out the guy in the wanted posters throughout the village was identified as Kuzan Ku-Suaoki; a convicted murderer, kidnapper and rapist who stalks, murders, rapes and controls girls under the age of 21 or 18 against their wills and even force them to be their girlfriends or wives and if a girl can't fulfill his wishes, he gives them severe punishments." Suko answered.

"So...who told you about him?" asked Akashi.

Suko sighed heavily because he knew that this would be the hardest answer that Akashi would hear and Suko said, "One of the victims."

"The four girls?" asked Akashi.

"No. However...one of those growing victims was your niece." Suko said, taking a gulp on the last part.

Akashi froze for a second after finding out that one of those victims was his niece and that took him to a huge amount of searing anger coarsing through his veins and he said, "Yuki."

"I heard someone scream to look for us, but some of the others thought I was hearing things and just went off. I knew that I wanted to find out what it was, but I didn't do that on the first time. And after that, I had to head out for the second time because my guilty conscience just took over me." Suko answered.

"Did you know it was Yuki the first time?" asked Akashi.

"No. But when I saw her when I went back, she found me and she was bruised and beaten up by this guy. You connect the dots and then look at the four victims I picked up, it leads to Kuzan." Suko answered.

"I'm gonna give these guys a strict talking to in the morning. Where's Yuki now?" asked Akashi.

"She's safe. She's at the Yashida's." Suko answered.

Akashi sighed in relief that Yuki's safe, but completely upset that Yuki kept this to herself and he said, "I'm gonna go check. And later on...we're gonna find this guy."

* * *

Meanwhile

"Sir, we've looked everywhere and there's no sign of the girls. Someone might've gotten them and we didn't notice." one of Kuzan's crew said.

Kuzan growled at this and said, "That's just great! Someone knows where we live. Leave me."

As the crew left, Kuzan was completely angry and furious that Yuki left and this is a huge amount of personal revenge and he said, "I swear, Yuki...when I find you, you will pay for your insolence! I'm not going back to prison! She won't even live to see another day and I'll make sure that she gets what's coming to her."

* * *

Something tells us that Kuzan's personal revenge will begin! Stay tuned!


	8. Secure

And Akashi checks in to see if Yuki's where she is...like any uncle would do.

* * *

Secure

Akashi walked on his way to the Yashida house to see if Yuki's there and the only thing on his mind was to see if she's okay and hope that she's not doing anything with Ikuto that he knows all too well and as he was walking, he became completely stunned to know that his own niece was a victim of Kuzan's abuse and what's worse...why she didn't say anything about this. Whatever the matter, Akashi will do anything to find out about this and protect his niece.

But for now...he finally makes it to the Yashida house and proceeds to climb up the house and spots Ikuto's room where he sees Ikuto on his bed, but no Yuki. Although it's a good sign that she's not in bed with him, he didn't see her at all...until he got a closer look and sees Yuki sleeping on the floor.

All Akashi could do was think about his niece and he hopes that one day, he'll find out more on this soon. For now though, he's happy to see her safe and sound and secured and climbs down to the ground to head back to his home and the one thing he knows he's gonna do is give his wife and kids a kiss while they're asleep.

Before he went further away, he noticed Lei coming out with a smile, confirming that Yuki's okay and he whispered, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. She's safe now." Lei answered.

* * *

Sorry if it's a little short, but...couldn't think of anything else. Stay tuned and you'll see Ikuto's little sleep habit.


	9. Sweet Morning

And we get to see Yuki and Ikuto together...and hear Ikuto's little sleep habit.

* * *

A Sweet Morning

6:30 AM

The sun begins to rise through the village and the sunrays reflect through Ikuto's window and Ikuto was awakened by the sunlight and he groans in his sleep, groggily wakes up, gets out of bed, heads to his window and closes the curtains to hold off the sun and gets back on his bed for a little while and he was unaware that Yuki was half-awake and shortly thereafter, she was re-awakened by hearing Ikuto talking in his sleep about Yuki.

"Oh, Yuki...I want to be with you for the rest of my life..."Ikuto said, sleepily.

Yuki couldn't help but overhear Ikuto sleep-talk about his love for her and just kept eavesdropping and see what else he's saying in his sleep. She then got a little closer as Ikuto kept sleep-talking. Ikuto snores and then moans in his sleep and said, "Yuki...stay with me. I promise that I'll never let you go..."

Yuki could tell that this was pretty sweet and also kinda weird at the same time, but in everytime he snores, she can't help but giggle a little bit because it's just so cute to see him profess his love for her in his sleep and if there was one thing that can brightne Yuki's day, it was Ikuto talking in his sleep.

"Oh, Yuki...I want you. I want you so bad..." Ikuto moans.

She then got a little closer and just stood there for a few minutes near his bed as Ikuto keeps muttering and talking in his sleep.

"I feel like the luckiest man when I'm with you. Please...rub my belly." Ikuto said, groggily.

Yuki giggles at this as Ikuto keep throwing out many sluggish talks as she keeps listening and Ikuto said, "Yuki...I love you so much that I want you to be my wife."

She can't resist. She got closer to his ear and whispered, "How much do you love me?"

"More than life itself." Ikuto said, snoring.

"Is there anything you want me to do for you?" asked Yuki, whispering in his ear.

"Can you rub my butt? I want to feel your delicate sweet hands all over me." Ikuto said, muttering.

Yuki knows that she can't get too close to him, but she can do one thing; she reaches out and tickles his ear and soon enough, Ikuto started laughing and tickled his sides too and he was laughing at this and he said, "Yuki, that tickles!"

She kept tickling him and tickling him until he started giggling and before long, she stopped for a while and after that, Ikuto woke himself up and then turns around to see Yuki standing there, surprising him and he said, "Yuki! Good morning."

"Morning, Ikuto." Yuki said, smiling.

"Um...how did you get so close here?" asked Ikuto.

"You kinda woke me up when I heard you say that you wanted me to rub your belly." Yuki answered, with a giggle.

That part kinda made Ikuto a little embarrassed and he didn't expect her to hear that and he asked, "How much did you hear?"

"It started with 'Yuki, I want to spend the rest of my life with you' and ended with 'Can you rub my butt so I can feel your delicate hands all over me' and stuff like that." Yuki answered, with a smile.

Ikuto covered his face in total embarrassment after Yuki's answer and he said, "Must've been sleep talking again. I'm so sorry about this."

"Oh, don't be. Most of it were pretty sweet and I would love to do those things someday." Yuki replied.

Ikuto was happy to hear that and he lets out a yawn and said, "That's good to hear. I wonder what mom's got for breakfast today."

"I was thinking the same thing." Yuki answered.

Ikuto got out of bed, wearing just a black tank top and some black boxer briefs and when Ikuto walked towards her, she couldn't help but notice a tiger striped tattoo on his crack and she said, "Hey, Ikuto?"

"Yeah?" asked Ikuto.

"Forgive me for prying, but do I see a little tiger stripe tattoo near your underwear?" asked Yuki.

Ikuto yelps in curiosity and then just chuckled nervously at that and he said, "You saw that?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." Yuki said, smiling.

Ikuto chuckled nervously as he sweated and said, "Thanks. I got it when I thought about you a few years back."

Ikuto then walks over to get dressed in private and Yuki said, "That's so sweet."

'I can't believe that just happened.' Yuki thought.

"Did you have a good sleep?" asked Ikuto.

"Yeah, I had an awesome sleep. Had a sweet dream too and it really helped me to forget about what had happened last night." Yuki replied.

"Well, don't worry about it. We'll find that Kuzan guy for you." Ikuto said, coming out with his usual vest and pants.

"Thanks for letting me sleep here." Yuki said, blushing.

"You're welcome." Ikuto answered, looking at her.

The more he looks at Yuki, the more luckier and happier he became and it's like they can't keep their eyes off each other and Ikuto said, "Um...Yuki? Now that you're safe, I was just wondering if you'd like to..."

"Breakfast time, Ikuto!"

Ikuto's mother's voice literally interrupted Ikuto's chance to say what he wants do to with her today and he said with an exasperated sigh, "We'll be right down, mom."

"Oh...and Yuki! I've got Ikuto's baby pictures if you want to see them!" Lei exclaimed.

Now, Ikuto's really gonna be humiliated in front of Yuki once his mom got the pictures and he said, "Mom! Please don't bring in my baby pictures!"

Yuki blinked her eyes at this and she looks at him and asked, "I bet you look cute in them."

"Yeah, but sometimes...it can get very embarrassing. Trust me, you don't want to see them." Ikuto said, looking really embarrassed.

"How embarrassing can they be?" asked Yuki.

'More embarrassing than you think.' Ikuto thought.

* * *

And you'll see how Yuki spends breakfast with the Yashida's! Stay tuned!


	10. Breakfast with Ikuto

Breakfast time with the Yashida's and Yuki gets to see the family dynamics.

* * *

Breakfast with Ikuto

Ikuto came downstairs first and he smeels a huge amount of food being cooked and to his surprise...his father was actually doing parts of the cooking and he smiled at this and said, "Hey, dad."

Yang looks at his smile with a smile and nods his head in response and Lei comes in the kitchen, putting a chair next towards Ikuto and she sits down on another chair waiting for Yuki to come and join in the table with them as Yang finishes up cooking and soon enough, Yuki comes downstairs and sees them at the table and of course, Yuki sits next to Ikuto and she said, "Morning, guys."

"Good morning, Yuki. Slept well last night?" asked Lei.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Yuki answered.

"Yang's putting in all the food together for all of us; we got some dumplings, eggs, rice and Ikuto's personal favorite; mongol noodles with some sweet chicken and my son's favorite juice; mango juice." Lei added.

"Thanks, mom." Ikuto said, half smiling.

"You should thank your father. He cooked breakfast for me while I was asleep early this morning. He's very handsome with that pink apron on, doesn't he?" Lei said, with a giggle.

Yang's response was a certain blush and just shaking his head before coming to the table and putting all the food in there and he removed the apron and sat down with the rest of them and Ikuto said to Yuki, "He really is a great cook, you know."

Yang nods in agreement as he gets some rice, dumplings, eggs and steamed vegetables and everyone else piled in on some food as well and as they were eating, Yuki was amazed at how much Yang's cooking tasted and she said, "This is one of the best ones I've eaten. Mr. Yashida, your cooking is so much delicious than Mason's, my dad's or even my own."

Yang smiled in response to that and Lei said, "He deeply appreciates it."

"I'm happy to hear that." Yuki answered.

As Ikuto was eating, he looks over at Yuki and he asked, "Think you can watch me train today? I know that you've seen me train so many times, but I think it'd be cool if you saw me train with my dad and your uncle today."

That surprised Yuki to the core to know that her uncle Akashi is coming over to train Ikuto and sooner or later, he'll know about what had happened about Kuzan and her fear is just putting her family at risk in getting killed in Kuzan's clutch if she tells them and she only said, "That's great. I'm looking forward to that."

Ikuto could sense a little bit of concern in Yuki's eyes and he knows that there's a sense of fear in her somewhere and he's gonna d everything he can to help her and protect her. Suddenly, Lei clears her throat and said, "After breakfast, I'll show you some of Ikuto's pictures of when he was a little baby. They're just so cute."

"Mom, please...don't show her the pictures." Ikuto said, lowering his ears in embarrassment.

"I've even got the ones with his little tushy. He had the cutest tushy when he was a pup." Lei said, glowing.

Ikuto covered his face because he knew that there was no stopping her from showing Yuki those baby pictures and whined, "Mom...not the tushy pictures!"

Soon after breakfast, Ikuto watched in full-on agony and embarrassment when Lei showed Yuki pictures of Ikuto as a baby pup and a younger pup; everything from Ikuto in a diaper to cuddling up in his mother's arms, tunbles, napping and of course...the tushy pictures. Yuki was giggling a little bit on some of the tushy pictures and all Ikuto could do is just cover his face because it was just too embarrassing to have those seen by his girlfriend.

'Let it be over now. Please let this be over.' Ikuto thought to himself.

"This one is a favorite of mine. One I always treasure when Ikuto was 2; him standing up with in the back where his little tushy is there. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it. I had thought that I would treasure it whenever he go tolder. For some reason, Ikuto always felt embarrassed about me talking about his tushy in his puppy years." Lei stated.

"Mom, I was a pup then. I'm almost 20. Don't you think it's time to stop talking about my tushy or even show it?" asked Ikuto.

"I've got several of Ikuto in his underwear when he was a little pup. He always loved running around in his underwear from the time he was four until he was seven." Lei added.

Ikuto yelped at this and he said, "Mom! You promised you'd never show that!"

"But I can't resist. I'm sorry, but I can't pass this up." Lei said, bringing them out.

Ikuto whined in response and he felt completely embarrassed as Lei shows Yuki some pictures of Ikuto as a puppy, running around in his underwear or just playing pretend while wearing it and even wearing his underwear on his head...which is the one picture that makes him more embarrassed than ever to be shown by Yuki.

"Wow...you were cute then, Ikuto." Yuki said, looking at the pictures.

"I was a kid. I was stupid back then." Ikuto added.

"No matter how you grow up, you'll always be my puppy-boo." Lei added.

Ikuto sighed at this and just excused himself and went outside to get some air and Yuki excused herself as well to see if he's doing okay and when she got there, she sees Ikuto feeling a huge sense of humiliation and she asked, "You okay?"

"No. I never wanted you to see those pictures of me as a kid." Ikuto said, ears dropping down.

"Aw, why not?" asked Yuki, sitting next to him.

Ikuto looked at Yuki in the eye and he said, "Because I told myself that I would never let my mom show those pictures to my friends or my girlfriend...especially my girlfriend. Because if my mom did show them, she would laugh at me and just...see me as a puppy instead of a gentleman."

"Trust me. I've been there. My mom always showed pictures of me when I was a cub too and some of them were twice as embarrassing as yours...some that I can't even describe or mention. Why are you ashamed of that?" asked Yuki, putting a paw on Ikuto's back.

Ikuto sighed at this and he said, "It's just embarrassing. My mom always sees me as her little puppy-boo and no matter how old I get, she'll always know me as that name. It's stuck with me until the end of my days. I just...I'm just embarrassed of it because I was afraid you wouldn't like me."

"Ikuto...I still love you. We both have embarrassing moments when we were kids in different ways. But you can't let it define who you are. It's not the end all, be all. One day, our parents won't be there anymore and we have to appreciate them for what they do for us. Nothing will ever change that." Yuki added.

Ikuto smiled a little bit and he said to her, You're right. I don't know how good you are of picking me up when I'm down."

"We both pick each other up no matter what happens to us. Our love is strong enough to handle anything." Yuki added.

Ikuto tickled under Yuki's chin, receiving a purr from her and he said, "That's why I love you so much."

Both of them leaned over for a kiss for a while until he hears someone clearing their throat and when they turned around, they saw Akashi standing there and Ikuto said, "Hey, Akashi."

"Did you slip her the tongue?" asked Kira, smiling.

"No, we didn't. Hi, Kira." Ikuto answered.

Yuki looked at her uncle and cousin and she said hi to them and she said, "You guys mind if I watched Ikuto train?"

"I figured that. Sure, you can watch him train. Afterwards, you and me are gonna have a little talk." Akashi said.

"Must be serious." Kira added.

* * *

Yuki gets a front row seat to see Ikuto's training! Stay tuned!


	11. Ikuto's Training Day

And we see Ikuto, Marceline, Akashi and Kira all together for training day! Actually, Marceline and Yuki are the spectators and Ikuto, Yang, Akashi and Kira are training.

* * *

Ikuto's Training Day

Within a few minutes later, Yuki sat down on the grass as Ikuto, Yang, Kira and Akashi are set to do some training to start off the day and Ikuto began doing some training with his father and as they began, Yang started to do some kung-fu moves by air-kicking, but Ikuto ducked the move, then goes on the attack by going as hard as he can and both father and son were sparring each other and Ikuto's strength started to go higher than ever as he did every ounce of kicks, spins, punches and everything else too.

Yang went high above to attack Ikuto, but Ikuto won't let him win this one as he flipped him over and knocked him down to the ground and as Yang gets himself up, he could tell that Ikuto's been doing so well in holding his own and standing his ground and he bowed to his son with much respect as a fighter and Ikuto bowed back, feeling completely satisfied.

Afterwards, Akashi went ahead alongside Kira to spar with each other and as Akashi gave them the signal to go, they both went for the full-on attack and Kira goes ahead and spars with Ikuto, both of them showing impressive strength towards each other and their fighting skills are straight up to par...although Kira's fighting power stays stronger above all.

As Yuki was watching, she was rooting for Ikuto as both of them were sparring while at the same time, deeply impressed with Kira's fighting skills and admiring her cousin for holding it down on her own and it seems as though she looks very capable of taking care of herself and how she's growing and progressing all through the entire training skills.

Just then, Yuki sees Marceline come in and sits down from a further distance, but closer to Yuki. Yuki wasn't quite sure if Marceline knows about what had happened to her within the past year or last night and keeps it to herself. She then turned to her and said, "Hi, Marceline."

Marceline looks over at her cousin and she replied, "Hello."

"How are you?" asked Yuki.

"Fine. Just here with my dad and sister, watching them train." Marceline replied.

Yuki nodded in response to that and she just kept watching Kira and Ikuto spar with each other and it looks as if Ikuto's gaining full strength while Kira is ready for the attack and before long, both of them unleashed very huge strength towards each other as they sparred and attacked each other quick and Ikuto did some insane moves all while regaining his chi and when she attempted to give Kira a lift-kick, Kira grabbed Ikuto by the ankle and threw him to the ground.

"Oh yeah! Never underestimate this chick!" Kira said, with a cocky laugh.

Ikuto then distracted her by tripping her ankle and got himself back up and sparred with her once again and it went on for a full 5 minutes before Akashi stopped it and took a good look at them and Akashi said, "Very good, both of you. Ikuto, strong comeback, but don't get too aggressive. That goes for you too, Kira. And also...don't gloat to your opponent after you take down your opponent."

"Yes, master." they said, bowing.

Afterwards, Yuki got herself up and went to Ikuto and Kira and she said, "That was awesome, you guys."

"Did you see where I almost kicked Ikuto's butt so hard?" asked Kira.

Ikuto rose his eyebrow after that comment and asked, "Seriously, Kira?"

Kira laughs at this and gives Ikuto a big noogie and Yuki could tell that there's like this brother/sister thing between Ikuto and Kira and she smiles at this and she said, "Are you guys always like this?"

"We're best friends. We've always been great friends." Ikuto answered.

"He's like the best friend you'd ever have and to have fun with." Kira agreed.

Just then, Lei comes outside and she sees everyone standing there and she said, "If anyone's hungry after training, I've fixed you all some lunch."

Yang, Ikuto and Kira were the first ones to come in the house right behind Marceline and that left Yuki and Akashi and something tells Yuki that Akashi was gonna bring up something that she hopes that will be buried by herself and Lei looks at Akashi and asked, "You coming in?"

"You guys go ahead. We'll catch up." Akashi answered.

As Lei walked back in the house, Akashi came over to Yuki face-to-face and he looked at her and said, "We need to talk. I know what happened last night."

Yuki assumed that there might've been something to do with her and Ikuto together and she immediately said, "I didn't sleep with Ikuto last night. I was sleeping on the floor."

"I'm not talking about that...although I am glad to hear that you didn't really sleep with him in the same bed. I'm talking about Kuzan." Akashi answered.

* * *

So...what do you think Akashi will say to Yuki about Kuzan? Stay tuned to find out!


	12. Tell Me Everything

Yuki finally spills the beans about everything she went through to Akashi.

* * *

Tell Me Everything

Yuki was definitely scared the minute Akashi mentioned Kuzan's name and she was afraid of what would happen if she ever told him about all the stuff she's been through in the past year and wasn't quite sue if she would open up, but Akashi could read her aura like an open book and study her fears and he got a little closer to his niece, sits down on the ground while Yuki was still standing with her head hanging down and Akashi reached out his paw to hers and he said, "I know that this guy had been using you, abusing you, beaten you, tried to rape you and tried to cause physical harm on you."

"But you didn't see him, uncle." Yuki said, softly.

"I didn't have to see him. I can tell from your scars." Akashi answered.

Yuki slowly sat down on the ground next to her uncle and she looked at him in the eye, unsure of whether or not to really tell him what happened because of how he'll react to it or how her parents will think or even worse...what will Kuzan do. She could hear the words of Kuzan in her head about what would happen if she told anyone about this.

'Tell them what I've done and I will murder your loved ones and you'll watch them die right in front of them! And then you'll be next!' Kuzan shouted, echoing.

But at the same time, Yuki knew that Akashi would go after this guy and he won't stop until he gets a straight answer from her and that there's no point in hiding it from her uncle at all and then Akashi said to her, "Your parents are really worried about you, you know."

"I know they are. But I don't want them to worry about me. I just want to keep them safe." Yuki answered.

"From what?" asked Akashi.

"From being killed by Kuzan." Yuki replied.

Akashi blinked his eyes a few times and wanted to know what she actually meant by that and he said, "What do you mean?"

Yuki sighed heavily and then looked at Akashi in the eyes and just told him, "Kuzan said if I told everyone what he did to me and all the harm he put me through in one year, that he'd kill my family and my loved ones and then kill me. That's why I kept my mouth shut because I was forced not to tell them. I would never lie to my parents, Akashi. You know that as well as I do."

"Go on." Akashi answered.

"For a whole year, I've been strangled, tied up, beaten, punched, kicked, thrown around, slapped, imprisoned, held hostaged, threatened to be thrown off and almost got raped by this guy. He claims that I was his first girlfriend and I know I've never seen this guy before in my life. He's delusional and crazy when he's violent. He's been controlling me; telling me what to do, where to go, what to wear or eat or when I should go back home to my family. And if I refuse to do any of these demands, he beats me up and locks me under the ground until he feels like letting me out. Sometimes...it would take 6 or 7 hours and then afterwards, I would get chained up and being beaten in my own will and I would almost get burned by this guy. He would often manipulate me and tell me that my own family has dishonored me and that I'm a shame to them for being born, that wolves and tigers should never be together or interfacing and that I should stick with my own species that I can fall in love with and that Ikuto's a serial rapist and killer. All of those things I know that are not true, but Kuzan keeps telling me it's the truth. Everytime I try to escape, he keeps telling me that he should change and would never harm me again and a few seconds later, he would get really angry and just attempt to throw me off a 5,000 foot cliff to my death until I gave in. Sometimes I don't really know why I'm with him, but I know that I have to end it. But he'll keep saying it's not over. I love Ikuto with all my heart and I would never do anything to betray him." Yuki said, crying over the last part.

As Akashi heard everything Yuki said, he definitely believes her and he quickly came over to her and just hugged her tightly while she's crying and Akashi told her, "You're safe now. We'll find this guy and bring him back where he belongs in the first place, no matter what it takes."

"I just want my parents safe." Yuki said, crying.

Yuki was unaware that her father is slowly coming over to him and he gently placed his paw on Yuki's shoulder and when Yuki turned around and saw her dad, she immediately hugged him tightly and whispered, "Daddy."

Max kissed her forehead and just held onto her tightly while tears were streaking through his eyes and whispered, "I heard everything."

Akashi stood up and told Max, "Did you know anything about this before you heard it from Yuki?"

"No. That's why me and her mother were so worried about her." Max answered.

"We'll find this jerk and give him what's coming to him. For now, you take Yuki back home." Akashi added.

"Mr. Bushido-Akio. Nice to see you. We were just still having lunch. Would you like to join us?" asked Lei, coming out.

"Sure. We'd love to." Max replied.

Max looks at his oldest daughter with a smile and held her hand and went with her inside the house with Akashi behind him and Yuki felt a sense of comfort in her father that he still loves her and would do anything and everything he can to protect his daughter.

'I'll find this Kuzan for you, Yuki. I promise.' Max thought.

* * *

We haven't seen much of Max lately. Now that he's here, she's finally getting back home! Stay tuned for more!


	13. Safe and Sound

After reuniting with her father, Yuki and Max have lunch with the Yashida's and there's nothing like a father-daughter reunion.

* * *

Safe and Sound

As everyone was sitting down for lunch, Max sat in between Yuki and Akashi as Yang and Lei served some lunch and as they ball sat down, Max looks up at Lei and he said, "You know, I really appreciate you taking Yuki in for the night."

"It was a pleasure. You should actually thank Suko for it was him that brought Yuki here." Lei replied.

Akashi nodded in agreement and looked at Max for a second and asked him, "So...how have you been doing?"

"Fine. But I couldn't sleep for what feels like months since Yuki was missing. Me and Saori have been worried sick about her and the kids were missing her too. I knew that something wasn't right with Yuki, but I just didn't know what it was. I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she would always told me 'I don't wanna talk about it'. Last night...something told me to head to the forest to find out what's going on and is my daughter safe, but there was no one there. But I knew...I knew that something happened to Yuki." Max answered.

"How'd you figure that out, Uncle Max?" asked Kira.

"A father always knows, Kira. It's an intuition I have as a parent and you know when something's wrong with your cub, you always have to know and trust your gut instincts." Max answered.

"Had you knew about this, what would you have done?" asked Akashi.

"I would've found the guy and use up my aura to make sure that he never does this to my daughter or any other innocent daughters out there. When I got the message from Suko this morning, I was both relieved and disturbed that someone so cruel could do this to my daughter." Max answered.

"What really upsets you is that you didn't see this coming or why Yuki didn't tell you, isn't it?" asked Akashi.

"Part of me is upset that she didn't tell me, but another part of me just wants to hold her tightly and just make sure everything's okay. Sometimes, I feel like I didn't do my part as a father." Max added.

"Oh, don't stay that, Max. This came as a surprise to us as it is to you." Lei added.

Max looked up at Yuki and he said to her, "You know it's very important to tell me, right?"

"Yes, dad. I wanted to tell you. So much I wanted to tell you, but I was too scared to tell you because if I did, Kuzan would just kill you, mom, my siblings, Uncle Akashi, Auntie Miyo, the ones I care about and he'd tell me stupid lies about you guys; saying that wolves and tigers should never be together, that you and mom have disowned me and that I'm a burden to the whole family, lies about Ikuto being a serial cheater and killer and rapist and that my family is better off without me. Deep down, I knew all of those things were lies because I know that my family loves me a lot." Yuki answered.

"You should always know that me and your mother will always love you no matter what anyone says. You're still our daughter...our brightest ray of sunshine in our lives." Max said, looking at her.

Yuki smiles at that and she nuzzled him as Max kissed her forehead and she said, "I love you, daddy."

"I love you too, Yuki. That's why I want you to be safe and not let anyone hurt you. How long has that guy been doing this?" asked Max.

"A year now. He thinks that I'm his girlfriend, but I've never seen him before in my life. I've already got a great boyfriend in Ikuto and he makes me so happy and safe." Yuki answered.

Max looks at Ikuto and smiles at him and he said, "I do appreciate you looking after my daughter. All of us should find where this Kuzan lives and teach him a lesson in messing with my daughter or any other girls out there."

"We can definitely arrange that." Akashi said, in agreement.

"So do I." Ikuto added.

"Ikuto, you sure you want to do this? You'd take a big risk to take down Kuzan and his thousand armies." Yuki said, a little worried.

"I'm willing to put my life on the line for you, Yuki. Kuzan has something he doesn't have...Rake." Ikuto answered.

"Who's Rake?" asked Max.

"You'll see...when he's ready for battle." Ikuto answered.

Yuki nods her head at this and she's definitely in good arms with Ikuto around and is deeply appreciative about everything this morning and Max said, "After lunch, I'm gonna take Yuki home because I know that Saori's a little worried about her. And I have to check on her too and see how she's holding up...as we're expecting."

Akashi dropped his chopsticks after that initial confirmation that Max and Saori are expecting a new member of the family and asked, "You just don't stop, do you?"

"We both agreed that after our new baby is born, that's it. We're also in the process of adopting a young black panther and a mountain lion, both brothers." Max answered.

"Sounds like someone's getting a big family." Lei said, excited.

* * *

Yes, you heard right. There are more kids in the Bushido-Akio house. One that's gonna be born into the world and two that are gonna be adopted. Stay tuned for more!


	14. Coming Home

And Yuki finally comes back home with her family!

* * *

Coming Home

Soon afterwards, Max, Akashi, Yuki and Ikuto came out of the house after lunch and Max thanked Ikuto for looking after her last night and Ikuto humbly accepted the thanks and just as they were gonna head their way home, Ikuto comes over to Yuki and he asked, "Now that you're okay, would you like to go with me on a picnic sometime?"

Yuki smiled at him in response and replied, "Yes, I would love to."

"Great. Maybe sometime this weekend?" asked Ikuto.

Yuki nodded at this and then she said, "I have to ask my dad."

Max clears his throat to remind her that he's right behind her and Yuki giggled in embarrassment over that and seeing Yuki's smiling face brightened up Ikuto's day even more and Max said, "Yes, you have my permission."

"It's a yes." Yuki responded.

"That's great. I'll see you there then." Ikuto said, smiling.

"You too. And thanks again. I really appreciate everything you did for me." Yuki said, happily.

Ikuto went forward and kissed Yuki on the cheek and she giggled in response to that and Ikuto walked up to Max and said, "Congratulations on the new baby."

"Thanks, Ikuto." Max said, happily.

All of them were completely unaware that one of Kuzan's goons were spying on them the whole time from a quarter mile distance, but can see Yuki from there and one of them sees Yuki walking with someone else and one of them were quite confused as to who that guy is because it certainly wasn't Ikuto because he's heading back to the his house and pretty soon, one of the spies were looking closely at the person with Yuki and one of them whispered, "Who's that guy?"

"I don't know. But he looks old enough to be her father." another spy replied.

Just then, they saw Akashi with them and the initial shock coursed through his vein that he's familiarized with one of them and he said, "I know this guy. That's Akashi Okami! One of his daughters rejected me for being their date to their ball one time."

"How do you even figure that out?" asked one spy.

"Because when I was younger, I tried to ask out his sister and she told me that she's already got a boyfriend named Maximus." the spy replied.

And with one close look at Max, he immediately recognized his face and said, "Holy...that is Max! And Kuzan's target...that must be his daughter."

"Wait, what?!" the other spy asked, then looked closer and recognized the Okami/Bushido-Akio trait in their foreheads.

"Kuzan is not gonna believe this." the spy replied.

They were kept at a short distance so that they won't get caught as they kept looking at them and they quietly walked back to Kuzan's place with the evidence they need and for some reason, they got a bad feeling that they might find where they live and the whole hideout will be given away at any given minute.

Meanwhile, Max finally made it back home with Yuki and Akashi and the first person that they saw was Mason, alongside his mate Sonya coming in for a visit with their 2 year old daughter Autumn and Max said, "Hey, guys. Made it just in time."

Mason and Sonya turned around and saw Max there with Akashi and Yuki coming by and Mason was so excited to see his little sister and comes to her and hugs her tightly and said, "Yuki! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Mason." Yuki replied.

Mason sighed in relief and noticed a few bandage wraps around her and said, "Did something happened to you?"

Sonya came closer while holding her daughter and she said, "What can you tell us?"

Yuki exhaled sharply as she saw her older brother and sister in law surrounding her and she replied, "You guys won't believe what I've been through the past year."

"Tell us all about it when we go in the house." Sonya said.

They were heading in the house and Yuki said hi to her baby niece and as they were coming in the house, the first person Yuki saw was her mother and when she came face to face with her, she immediately ran to her and hugged her and Saori hugged her back as well and she was completely relieved that Yuki was okay. Saori looked at her with a few tears in her eyes and she said, "I'm so happy you're back home."

Just then, the younger sibs; Kaiba, Serenity, Sapphire, Jason, Maximus II, Akashi II, Shinoda, Aurora and Marcus came in and saw Yuki and they immediately piled in for a group hug as their worries and fears were all over when they saw Yuki feeling okay and just safe and sound and that was something they're definitely thankful for.

"We were all so worried about you." Kaiba said, happily.

"What happened?" asked Sapphire.

"Guys, guys...I'm okay. I was fortunate to get out a very bad place where someone tried to hurt me." Yuki answered.

"Tell us all what happened." Marcus said.

Within a few minutes, Yuki told everyone in the family about the ordeal she had to go through and how she kept strong while she got manipulated, beaten, abused and threatened by Kuzan and as she explained every sordid detail, most of them were completely disturbed, saddened, shocked and outraged that something like this happened to her and some of the younger kids were upstairs playing while everyone else sat down and heard everything Yuki went through. Saori was the most disturbed and outraged that Kuzan would victimize not only Yuki but plenty other girls so young and she said, "That is the most sickest thing a person would do. If he showed up here, I'd claw his eyes out until he has no eyes."

"Would you really do that while you're pregnant?" asked Akashi.

"Yes, I would. In fact, I'd use my belly as a weapon if Kuzan came here." Saori added.

"Easy, Saori. You need your rest first. And I understand what you're saying. I would've done the same exact thing." Max added.

"Yuki, you would know that you'd never shame our family. We love you and we're always here to protect you no matter what." Saori said, looking at Yuki.

Feeling her mother's embrace really made Yuki feel so happy to hear that and Max said, "We've been through hurdles before and we're gonna fight through this."

"You know, Seto's been really worried about you. He said that you don't visit as much as you used to." Kaiba added.

"Let him know I'm back home now." Yuki added.

"Or...tell him yourself."

Yuki looks up and sees Seto coming in and gives Yuki a big hug and that was something she definitely needed and Seto said, "Give me the guy's name and I'll kick his hindlegs for what he did to you."

"Seto, you knew?" asked Yuki.

"Yeah. I've walked past the forest and I heard you scream loud and saw this guy trying to kill you with a knife. Nobody messes with my sister and gets away with it." Seto added.

Yuki was surprised to see Seto defending his sister for the first time because normally he'd always rag on her about anything and everything and she said, "That's sweet of you."

"By the way, Yuki...Seto's gonna be a dad." Max said, amazed.

Yuki looks at Seto and smiled at him and she said, "Congratulations. I know you've tried so hard to be a dad."

"Yeah. My mate Aruki and I had overcome a miscarriage she had and we had to try again and it finally paid off. Now I'm gonna be a dad." Seto said, smiling.

"That's awesome. Let's hope the baby will become more mature than you." Yuki added.

Seto rolled his eyes in response and said, "I'm 21 years old. Don't you think I've outgrown that?"

"Actually, I woke up with peanut butter on my underwear and my face, so...that would be a no." Kaiba added.

"Whatever. I'm still gonna be a big kid at heart, but I know I have to take care of my responsibilities as a father. Just gotta balance it a little bit." Seto added.

"Well, congratulations, Seto." Max said, happily.

Yuki sighed happily as she came to her niece Autumn and tickled her chin and said, "It feels so good to be back home."

* * *

There's no place like home! Stay tuned for more and on the next chapter, Kuzan makes an appearance!


	15. Kuzan's Vow of Vengance

Now we focus on Kuzan!

* * *

Kuzan's Vow of Vengance

"WHAT?!" Kuzan roared, pounding his fist to the ground, furiously.

"It's true, sir. It seems as though we've been found out by Yuki herself and she has spoken of where we all live." one of Kuzan's crew replied.

That enraged, infuriated and ticked off Kuzan that Yuki has not only broken his 'sacred secret haven', but has also defied his orders and it just made him angrier and angrier until his rage took over his mind and coarsed all through his body as he wanted one thing and one thing only; murder and revenge against Yuki and those that are protecting her.

"So, she thinks that she can defy me, huh? We'll see about that when she pays for her crime! I am not going back to jail!" Kuzan shouted.

"What do you want us to do, sir?" asked one of his crew.

"Find wherever these people are protecting her live. I'll kill Yuki myself! And if someone gets in my way, I'll kill them too!" Kuzan answered.

Soon enough, the crew left to assemble a plot to target Yuki and her family, but noth agree to leave it to Kuzan to take this on himself. Meanwhile, Kuzan sharpens up his swords, knives, daggers and many other weapons in order to shed a whole lot of blood. Just then, he noticed one of his prisoner slaves come in; an 18 year old black panther with tattered shorts and an old grey tank top coming in and he said, "You summoned me, sir?"

"I have an assignment for you. When I find Yuki, I want you to find that Ikuto fellow and kill him." Kuzan answered.

"Kill him? But sir...why would you want me to kill this Ikuto?" asked the young panther.

"Listen, you have no options or choice. You've been following my orders for three years and now you choose to question them?! Do you want your little brother and little sister killed for defying my orders? Because I'll do it!" Kuzan shouted.

The black panther knew that he's backed against a wall and he has a feeling that Kuzan might actually go through it and he just feels helpless and hopeless at that moment because he remembered Kuzan killing his parents back when he was 15 and the only ones that remain were his ltitle brother and little sister and he loves them to death and would do anything for them to keep them alive, even if it means doing some very horrible things that's under Kuzan's request.

The panther sighed in response and said, "When do you want me to do this?"

"Wait for a few days until I say so." Kuzan replied.

"Yes, sir." the panther replied, lowering his head down.

After the panther walked out of the room, Kuzan was more than ready to end Yuki's life after not only escaping, but also defying his orders and will go completely berserk to murder and the fact that he'll go back to jail completely wracked his mind into unspeakable thoughts and he said, "Enjoy your days of life...because they will be your last the minute I'm through with you."

Meanwhile, the young panther couldn't stop thinking about his younger siblings because they're the only family he has left after his parents were savagely killed and he wants to fight back, but with Kuzan's threat running through his head, he just doesn't have the freedom or the heart to defy his orders and he would do anything he can to keep his brother and sister alive at all costs and he whispered, "Someday...someday we will get out of this."

* * *

I figured that there would be one person that would be different from all of Kuzan's crew that wouldn't have the heart to do his bidding, but was forced to do so in order to keep his younger siblings alive because he's the only family he has left. Stay tuned to see more!


	16. Catching Up with Family

And the second part of Yuki catching up with her family. And Yuki explains more of the severity of what she had to endure with Kuzan.

* * *

Catching Up with Family

As Yuki starts recuperating from this terrible ordeal, she feels so secure with her family around and Yuki gets to enjoy being around them more often than she has ever been and Marcus sat next to her for a second and he tells her, "So...how did you manage to escape from this guy anyway?"

"I ran away while he was sleeping. He would always tell me to leaven when he feels like telling me. If I leave without his permission, the punishments get severe." Yuki answered.

Marcus rose an eyebrow at this and he asked, "How severe?"

"Like...he would tie me up in the air to a chain and I would be stripped down to either my underwear or nothing at all and grab his torch and threaten me to set me on fire. Sometimes, he would use a whip and just whip me down and I'd have all these scars on my body and the rope or chain that I get tied in would burn my wrists or cause them to have these little migranes on my fists and I'd stay hanging there for 5 or 7 hours." Yuki answered.

Marcus was disgusted by how those treatments she endured were and said, "What kind of sick man could do that?"

"This guy must have no respect for women." Max added.

"If that was me, I would've kicked him straight to where no one mentions and then let Akashi do whatever he wanted with him." Saori said, looking at her brother.

Akashi definitely agreed with that and he added, "And trust me...he would get a lot worse punishments I'd give him. The same kinds that Yuki did, but will end up with a different result than being hanging around in chains for 7 hours."

"I dare him to come to our house and try to hurt us. We'll give him a hurting." Seto said, unsheathing his claws.

"Do you still have your fighting skills, Yuki?" asked Kaiba.

"Yeah." Yuki replied.

"You need to stand up to him and fight back. Show some backbone and say 'I'm not gonna take how you treated me and pretty much every other woman in the world with your disgusting, controlling ways and I'm putting an end to this' and then show him who's boss. If that doesn't work, but you still want to fight back, bring some backup." Kaiba answered.

"Kaiba's right. You have to stand up for yourself and fight back, no matter what he does to you." Seto added.

Kaiba was completely shocked by how Seto responded to this and he said, "Did Seto say I'm right? Finally, I've been waiting a long time to hear you say that!"

"Although I hate being wrong, no jerkface is gonna mistreat my little sister like Kuzan. We've got your back, Yuki...as we always do." Seto added.

Yuki smiled at that and it lets her know that she's still being loved and although this has been a huge ordeal for the family, they know that they have to band together and form a stronger unit to get through this thing. She said, "I have the best family in the world."

"That's what we do." Max added, smiling.

* * *

A few minutes later, Yuki hears Kaiba about being a top star in the Heaven's Gate Academy when it comes to kung-fu and swordfighting, but he never lets it get in way over his head and Akashi has had nothing but praises for both Kaiba and Serenity as they're top kung-fu students at the Academy. When it comes to Serenity and boys however...he doesn't let that go for a millisecond when boys pay attention to her and makes it clear that no boy will be anywhere near Serenity within a close range.

"Uncle Akashi, you didn't really have to scare them off at school." Serenity said, face-palming herself.

"In case you haven't noticed, I founded the school. I make all the rules around here and the number one rule is no boys allowed to pursue any girl inside or near the Academy grounds. Marceline and Takamoto make sure that the rules are still intact and they're still up to code." Akashi added.

"How come it's okay for Kaiba to have girls paying attention to him, but not for me to have guys pay attention to me?" asked Serenity.

"Because I know boys' mind games better than anyone else. They know what they really want and their hormones go crazy that the number-one thing they're gonna do is mating. It's hard to resist that urge for most boys when there's an attractive girl around." Akashi answered.

"But I'm 15. I'm barely attractive." Serenity stated.

"That may be, but tell that to any other boy around. I have to protect you; whether it's at school or at home." Akashi stated.

"But I'm not ony interested in kung-fu. I'm in it for weapons." Kaiba added.

"That's the one thing that I'm proud of and kinda nervous about; involved with weapons." Max said.

"Aw, why is that, Max? You're used to dealing with weapons all the time." Akashi added.

"Yes, that's true. But I'm a little apprehensive about Kaiba's hands on any sorts of weapon whatsoever. He might accidentally injure himself or someone else if he's not using it properly. It's a huge responsibility to handle weapons." Max stated.

"Dad...I watch you polish, carve and pound metal and woods for weapons all the time. I think I might be more than capable of handling them." Kaiba stated.

"He does have a point, Max. However...Kaiba, weapons needed to be handled with the best responsibility and you have to be very careful and delicate with them. Don't use them unless you know how to use them properly." Akashi added.

"Okay, uncle. One day...I'll have my own weapons business and polish weapons." Kaiba said, happily.

Max smiled at that and he said, "Just like your old man. Following my footsteps."

"Sapphire, Jason and Maximus II are growing up, aren't they?" Yuki asked.

"They've grown a little older now and Maximus II likes to help out around the house, especially around the kitchen." Saori answered.

"So, mom...what's the new baby gonna be? A brother or sister?" asked Mason.

"If this is a girl, this is it. If it's a boy, we might keep going until we decide to stop." Saori answered.

"That's the pact that we agreed several months ago." Max said, nodding his head at that.

Akashi rolled his eyes in response to that pact they had and said, "Which won't stick for long because even if it's a girl, you're still gonna keep going because you can't stop mating. You've defied expectations to having kids, adopting one and waiting for two to adopt and take in. Don't you think it's enough?"

"We did agree on 15 kids." Saori stated.

"Adopted or birth?" asked Akashi, raising an eyebrow.

"Birth, but as older as we are, we decided to just go with 12 birth kids and 3 adopted...and that's about it." Saori answered.

"I hope you guys are truthful about this." Akashi added, glaring at them.

"Akashi...would we ever lie to you?" asked Max.

Marcus blinked his eyes a few times and Yuki noticed that Marcus was thinking about something and she asked, "Hey...what's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh...nothing. Um...I'm just thinking about my girlfriend Jewel. For some reason...I can't eat, sleep, think or drink at all because she's always on my brain." Marcus added.

"Because you're in love, Marcus. That's the symptoms of it. I can tell that you and Jewel have something special." Max stated.

Marcus nodded his head in agreement and said, "Yeah, that might be it. Can that really happen?"

"Of course it can. It happens to all of us. It's a very beautiful thing that can't be described into words." Saori added.

"Just as long as you don't think about becoming one immediately." Akashi added.

"No...we put it off until we're officially married. We're still courting." Marcus said.

Saori nodded her head at her son's answer to that question and said, "Very wise decision."

2 hours later

Yuki was laying down on her bed and she felt so happy to be back home and is able to keep the family bond stronger than anything, despite dealing with that struggle with Kuzan. Even though she's happy to be back, she still worries for her family's safety that Kuzan will find her and eventually kill her and the family too, but then she remembered what Kaiba said to her about fighting him back. It might be the hardest thing she might have to do because he's ten times stronger than she is, but she does know how to hold her ground.

As she rests up, Max slowly walks into the room to check on her and see how she's doing and when he sees her sleeping, he rubs her forehead slightly and kisses her cheek softly and whispered, "I love you, Yuki."

He softly walks out of the room, but not before hearing the five words that came out of his daughter's mouth...

"I love you too, daddy."

That really did it. Max looks back at her and smiled with a few tears coming down on his face and it lets him know that she still loves her father very much and Max is willing to do everything and anything for her no matter what and just left the room with his heart filled up and he's willing to find this guy that hurt her and give him something to teach him a lesson when it comes to messing with his daughter.

* * *

Max and Saori on how they deal with this on the next chapter!


	17. Concern for Yuki's Safety

And the afterglow of Yuki's ordeal makes a huge impact on Max and Saori...that they're having a hard time sleeping.

* * *

Concern for Yuki's Safety

2:15 AM

Max was already asleep on his bed and yet, he couldn't shake off the feeling of Yuki being beaten, abused and almost raped by that criminal person and the thought of it made it hard for him to sleep as he tossed and turned, just thinking about what would've happened if he had witnessed the horrific ordeal his daughter had to go through and see a completely different result on Yuki's fate.

For most of the night, Max was awake and just couldn't stop imagining all the pain she had to endure and it had been a very hard year for the Bushido-Akio family due to many confusions and worry as to what had happened to Yuki and how her injuries, scars, bruises, being withdrawn in fear and also her hiding the fact that she had been beaten by someone they had no idea who it was and why she didn't tell them right there and then really coarsed through Max's mind.

Max sighed heavily at this and as he turned to the side, he noticed one side of the bed was empty, wondering where Saori could be and he got out of bed with nothing but his tank top and underwear on and he puts on his robe and left the room to find where she could be in the middle of the night and a few minutes went by and he looked beyond the balcony and saw a familiar grey nightgown that's floating through the wind and that's when he knew; it was Saori.

Max slowly walked over towards the balcony behind her and stood beside her and asked, "Couldn't sleep, either?"

"No. Just the thought of our Yuki being beaten up by a criminal for a full year...I can't shake it off." Saori said, in a worried tone.

"I know. Neither could I. What upsets me more is that none of us saw it coming." Max answered.

Saori sighed heavily and just closed her eyes and couldn't even imagine the horror she had to go through and endure the suffering she had to face and it just reverted back to the same situation she had faced before when she was Yuki's age and it still gets to her, even though she has moved on from it since Max rescued her and once Max looked at her, he placed his hand on her paw for comfort and reassurance.

"We just have to keep an eye on her." Max added.

Saori nodded in agreement and she said, "I don't want to see our daughter suffer the way we had suffered."

"That's the number-one goal that we set as soon as our kids were born; that they don't go through the same thing we went through." Max agreed.

Saori sighed and she got really glossy-eyed as a few tears fell down her face and once Max noticed this, he placed her paw on his forehead for comfort and asked, "What's wrong?"

"If I had known, I would've stopped this. I just feel like I had failed as a mother." Saori said, with a sob.

"Don't say that. It's not all your fault. It's on both of us. We both should've known what was happening and why Yuki didn't tell us. You're a great mother, always have been and always will be. Never forget that." Max said, reassuring her as he nuzzled her softly.

Saori responded with a soft purr as she nuzzled Max back and she kissed him on the forehead and said, "You're such a good husband, Max. You always pick me back when I'm down."

"Come on, let's go back to bed. We'll talk to Yuki in the morning." Max said, holding her hand.

"Okay." Saori replied, as they both headed back to their room for some sleep and throughout the night, both Max and Saori slept with each other as they held each other closely and had a much needed sleep as they both have to help Yuki out on overcoming this hurdle.

* * *

Next chapter...Max and Saori talk to Yuki about the whole thing. Stay tuned!


	18. Concern and Comfort

And we finally see a heart-to-heart talk between Max, Saori and Yuki after everything that had happened.

* * *

Concern and Comfort

By the next morning, Max and Saori were already up early and just sat on the living room downstairs as everyone else is asleep and they're waiting for Yuki to come downstairs and have a little talk with her and soon enough, they see Yuki come downstairs and Saori said to her, "Good morning, Yuki."

"Morning, mom. Morning, dad." Yuki said, looking at them with a half smile.

"Sleep well?" asked Max.

"Yes, I have." Yuki replied.

Max nodded at that and he said to her, "We want to talk to you for a second. Have a seat."

Yuki was a little nervous about what's going on and as she sat down and figured that this was something serious because she can sense the mood coming in and she asked, "Am I in trouble?"

"No, you're in any trouble whatsoever. We just want to talk...about what you went through." Max replied.

Once that subject hit in, Yuki could tell that this would be the release of everything she had been keeping for so long and she lets out a deep sigh as she looked at them in the eye and said to them, "I'm so sorry for not telling you guys."

"Why didn't you tell us about it? We've been worried about you all year long." Max asked.

"I wanted to tell you guys so many times. I really wanted to...but Kuzan's threat that he might kill you, mom and my loved ones was so huge that I didn't want to put you at risk. I had no other choice, even though it was the dumbest choice that I had ever made." Yuki replied.

Saori could empathize with what she said and she told her, "When I found out that you were hurt and being in captive with that monster, I felt that I had failed you as a mother for not knowing sooner."

Yuki came over to her mother's side and she gently nuzzled her mother and said, "You didn't fail me. If anything...I failed you as a daughter for letting this guy control me. Kuzan told me that I'm a disappointment and a disgust to you guys and that I brought shame to the family."

"Yuki Jiraki Bushido-Akio Okami...you are not a shame to the family. You've never been a shame to all of us. That guy that hurt you and told you all those lies...he's the one that should be shamed. We still love you and we always have been. Your mother and I have always been proud of you and you've filled us with joy...since the day you were born. I've always called you my sweet sunshine because you've always brought light into our lives and you still are." Max said, rubbing her forehead in comfort.

"I've been through the same thing you have, Yuki. A different man with the same agenda as Kuzan's claimed that I was his wife and all he did was treat me horribly, control me, manipulate me and abuse me with everything he's got and raped other girls. I almost got raped until your father rescued me. If it wasn't for him, I would've died and you and your siblings wouldn't be here. Your father and uncle gave that monster what he deserved and I appreciate them for what they did. My point is you've got to be strong and stand up for yourself." Saori answered.

Max nodded at this and said, "Listen to your mother. We're still here for you and we love you. We're just really happy that you're okay."

Yuki's eyes welled up with tears and she hugged both of her parents tightly and Max rubbed Yuki's head for comfort and kissed her on the cheek while Saori nuzzled her and it shows that they're still family and that they still love each other and it shows that pillar of strength in the face of horrible experiences that made Yuki feel better.

"I love you guys so much." Yuki said, crying.

"We love you too." Saori said.

"Don't hide anything from us anymore, okay? I want you to promise us from now on, you tell us everything that happened to you or where you're going. I'm not gonna be like your uncle, just spying around everywhere you go. But I do want you to make some wise choices." Max said.

"Yes, sir." Yuki answered.

Max nodded at that and he smiled a little and said, "All righty. I'm gonna head to work, but I'll be home a little early."

"Okay." Yuki said.

Max got himself up, then kissed Saori on the cheek as he made his way to the workshop with peace of mind and Yuki sat down with her mother as they talk about everything and deep down inside her, she'll always appreciate everything that they said and will take it to heart and she hopes that Kuzan will leave her alone for good.

* * *

Sweet family moment. Stay tuned to see more!


	19. Picnic

After a very serious tense moment with escaping from Kuzan and emotional reunion with her family, we finally see Ikuto and Yuki having some fun together and we get a little flashback on their previous date.

* * *

Picnic

Saturday afternoon comes along and Yuki walks around the forest, looking forward to a picnic with Ikuto and she needed a good time with him after all that she had been through with Kuzan and all and it's just what she needs...an escape from all of this. When she finally made it over to Ikuto's house, she saw him holding a picnic basket while standing under a shady tree and he's wearing only a black tank top to keep himself cool and she came over to him and she said, "Hey, Ikuto."

"Hi, Yuki. How are you?" asked Ikuto.

"I'm doing good. You?" asked Yuki.

"Pretty good. Hungry too." Ikuto said, chuckling.

Yuki giggled in response to that and she put on her sun hat and said, "It's getting pretty hot out here."

"Yeah, I feel it too. I know a place where we can cool down as we're enjoying our picnic." Ikuto said, grabbing his picnic basket.

Before they set out to leave, Lei comes over and brought in a extra bag of food to bring for the picnic and places it in the picnic basket and Ikuto says thanks to his mom for that and then Lei kisses her son on the cheek and did the same for Yuki and afterwards, Lei said, "Be good, you two!"

"We will, mom." Ikuto said, as quickly as he can.

"It's hot out there, so take a swim. And I put in some fresh pairs of underwear for you." Lei said.

Ikuto just couldn't believe that his mother said that out loud in front of a very shocked and silent Yuki and just didn't really say anything as they went on their way and Yuki was still shocked at all of this and she asked, "Did she really just say that?"

"I don't even want to know." Ikuto said, while walking.

Sometime later, they finally reached the place Ikuto was walking about and when they came in, it was completely amazing for Yuki to see this with her own eyes and said, "This is amazing."

"I had discovered this place a long time ago and this is one of the most coolest places to go into. Plus...it's got something extraordinary." Ikuto said, bringing Yuki over.

"What's extraordinary about it?" asked Yuki.

Just then, as soon as they turned left, Yuki was surrounded by mounds of diamonds all over the place and that really took her breath away as she couldn't believe the amount of diamonds in this cave and she said, "Oh my goodness..."

"What do you think?" asked Ikuto.

"It's wonderful. I've never seen that many diamonds before in my life." Yuki said, pleased.

Ikuto smiled in response and he told him, "I had hoped that it'll be a place for you and me to spend time in."

"I'm definitely looking forward to that." Yuki said, smiling.

Soon after, Ikuto brought in his picnic sheets and placed it around the ground and set his basket down there and sat down with his legs crossed and Yuki sat down as well and they opened up the basket and mounds of food were inside; some noodles, spicy mongol dumplings, sushi, tempura, snow peas, veggies, some fruit and mango juice. And Ikuto brought out some mango and orange chicken to go along with it and Yuki was amazed by the amount of food Ikuto brought in and said, "Wow...that's a lot of food."

"Me and my dad made it this morning." Ikuto answered.

Yuki widened her eyes in total surprise and she said to him, "I'm excited to see how it tastes. You must be a good cook."

"I try." Ikuto replied.

Yuki tried out some of the noodles and sushi and her taste buds felt like they were in heaven and just savored every single bite and she said, "So good..."

Ikuto tasted some of those as well and started out with a few veggies and snow peas and he said, "You like it?"

"I love it. This beats my mom's cooking by a landslide. Don't tell her I said that." Yuki said, with a chuckle.

Yuki reached in for some of those spicy mongol dumplings and once she tasted them, they were not only good, but pack in some heat and she said, "Whoa...those are really hot."

She sipped some of the mango juice to wash it all down and she breathed in relief and just ate some of the sushi and tempura as they were both eating, they couldn't keep their eyes off of each other and exchanged a few giggles here and there and talked with each other for a few moments. Ikuto asked, "Hey, remember when we dated a few years ago and it was almost ruined because we were spied?"

"Oh, yeah...I remember that. It was your mom and Lulu, Sally and Jeff that spied on all of us and they thought that we were mating when we were actually swimming." Yuki replied.

"And you had your swimsuit on the entire time while mine had just fallen off because I did a cannonball and I was so embarrassed when my mom saw my butt." Ikuto said, completely nervous.

* * *

_Flashback; 2 years earlier_

_Ikuto and Yuki were having some fun at a river, just splashing each other and seeing who's the better swimmer and it was like the perfect swim date and they had thought that it was a good way to put a cap on the date by cooling off in the evening and both of them were having the time of their lives and Ikuto thought of a great idea to do a cannonball in hopes to impress Yuki._

_Ikuto climbed up towards the rocks behind the waterfall to attempt his dive, yet both of them were unaware that Lulu, Jeff, Sally and Lei were spying on them the whole time watching Ikuto dive and Lulu said, "I bet they're fully clothed."_

_"I doubt it. Have they even mated yet?" asked Sally._

_"They're both too young to mate." Lei whispered._

_Soon enough, Ikuto jumped down as he did a cannonball and splashed down the river and Yuki couldn't believe what she just saw and she was very impressed by this and Ikuto popped out and just laughed and said, "What do you think?"_

_"You did so awesome!" Yuki cheered._

_She swam towards him and just felt so proud of her boyfriend and said, "Looks like you definitely impressed me."_

_Ikuto smiled in response to that and he kissed her on the lips and Yuki wrapped her arms around him as he wrapped his arms around her, evoking a very semi-passionate kiss and after that, they looked into each other's eyes for a while and he said to her, "This night is so perfect. Nothing could mess it up."_

_Ikuto then swam towards the right as he steps out of the water...without his trunks. Yuki was a little speechless and shocked and saw his trunks floating out of the blue and out of nowhere..._

_"Ikuto! Where are your trunks?!"_

_Ikuto looks up and sees his mother standing there and he was shocked to see her there and said, "Mom! What are you doing here?!"_

_"Did you swim naked?" asked Lulu, laughing._

_Ikuto was then confused by what Lulu meant and when he felt a little breeze from behind, he looked down and realized that his trunks fell off and he yelped in shock and embarrassment and whined, "MOM!"_

_Yuki quickly came over to Ikuto, bringing his trunks and Ikuto immediately yanked those out of Yuki's hands, then runs off to put his trunks back on and Sally said, "You guys weren't mating, were you?"_

_Yuki was definitely embarrassed for Ikuto because the one part of the date was messed up a little bit because they spied on them during this moment and she just buried herself underwater for a while in deep embarrassment._

* * *

Reality

"How long did you stay underwater?" asked Ikuto.

"For 10 minutes." Yuki answered.

Ikuto sighed at this and he just felt completely humiliated by what just happened and said, "Why my mom spied on me, I will never know. And bringing Jeff, Lulu and Sally into the mix made it worse."

"Well...they're not here right now." Yuki said, smiling.

Hearing those words made Ikuto smile with reassuring relief and he said, "You're right. We're both having fun with each other...enjoying every moment we have."

"I'm so happy that you're my boyfriend." Yuki said, nudging close to Ikuto's forehead.

Ikuto's forehead got closer to Yuki's and he said, "Not as happy as I am to have you as my girlfriend."

Both of them kissed each other on the lips very tenderly and it was one of those moments that would never ever end and after just a few minutes of tender, they went forward passionately as their tongues explored each other's mouths for a good 10 minutes and the embrace made Ikuto's tail wag very slowly, but he was happy regardless that he has Yuki by his side.

After 10 minutes of passionate kissing, Ikuto said to her, "I want to make a promise with you; that I'll always stay by your side and protect you forever. I'll do anything for you to make sure you're loved...even if it means spending the rest of my life with you."

"I know you'll fulfill that promise, Ikuto." Yuki said, in a half-whisper while stroking his short hair.

Ikuto smiled and he whispered in her ear, "Let's skin dip together."

"Sounds like fun." Yuki said, smiling.

* * *

How awesome was that date? Next up...Kuzan and Ikuto meet face to face!


	20. Kuzan vs Ikuto: Face to Face

And now...we hit the serious mode as Ikuto comes face to face with Kuzan for the first time!

* * *

Kuzan vs. Ikuto: Face to Face

Kuzan scoured around parts of the area to search for Yuki and give her the more severe suffering punishment he could ever think of and revenge is definitely his best option to end her life and give her a very clear warning on what happens when you disobey him or disrespect him and he just wants to teach Yuki a very hard lesson, especially finding out that someone's gonna find where he lives or step out with another man. Kuzan doesn't care how much it will hurt her or her family, as long as he sees her suffer the consequences.

Just then, he finds her walking home with Ikuto and from the looks of it, she looked happy with him and that is definitely something he refuses to accept and let it go on and disgust turn into pure and absolute rage when he saw her kissing Ikuto and before long, he was focused on Ikuto that he almost forgot about Yuki, yet the thought of him treating her with kindness, respect and compassion made him more disgusted all the same.

"How sickening is that affection? I oughta slice that wolf into a million pieces by the time I'm through with him." Kuzan said, growling.

He sees Yuki come in the house as Ikuto sets out for his home and Kuzan has a very clear knowledge on where Yuki lives as well as where Ikuto lives and it's time for him to confront him and fight as he sees Ikuto walk this way with sword intact and as Ikuto walked past him, Kuzan immediately lands on the tree to his feet, immediately capturing Ikuto's attention.

Ikuto turns around and sees Kuzan standing there and with a little confusion, Ikuto wanted to know why he was staring at him like that all while Kuzan's emotionless, yet very angry look on his face was geared towards Ikuto and he said, "You got some nerve."

"Excuse me?" asked Ikuto, raising an eyebrow.

"Let me give you a warning; stay the hell away from my girlfriend. She's mine and no one else's." Kuzan said, snarling.

"Your girlfriend?" asked Ikuto.

"Are you blind, deaf and stupid?! Why should an ugly wolf like you be involved with my tigress slave?!" Kuzan shouted.

Then, it actually hit Ikuto...the same tigress he was referring to was Yuki. And that literally brought his full-on attention that it was Kuzan. Ikuto then said, "So you're Kuzan...the one who harmed Yuki, aren't you?"

The shock hit Kuzan that Yuki actually told him and it made him enraged even further and he brought out his sword in front of Ikuto and he said, "It was supposed to be a secret between me and her. No one was supposed to know."

"The secret's out now. You're not gonna lay a hand on Yuki any longer." Ikuto said, in a very serious tone.

"There's nothing you can possibly do to stop me. I do whatever I want with Yuki and I tell her what to do and what not to do. She has to ask my permission! I control her on what she wears, eats and do things. But she refuses to listen to me!" Kuzan growls.

"I don't blame her." Ikuto added.

Kuzan's fuse was getting a whole lot shorter and he placed a sword straight towards his face, yet Ikuto was not intimidated by him and Kuzan said, "I'm giving you one warning; get anywhere near her...you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Ikuto snarls at Kuzan and whacks his sword off with his chain-hammer and whacks Kuzan straight to the face and as he grabs his hammer, Ikuto looks at Kuzan and said, "This is my warning if you dare mess with Yuki. Consider that a little imprint."

"This isn't over, wolf. I will get her...and you. And if you think you're gonna stop me, you got another thing coming because you don't know who you're dealing with." Kuzan growled.

"And you don't know who you're dealing with either. You don't have to worry about that...because if you do get near Yuki, it will only end badly for you." Ikuto said, growling.

Kuzan looks at Ikuto with so much hatred and rage and he said, "You think you're so tough. Yuki will never be with someone like you. You're not even man enough to deserve her."

"I'm man enough to protect her...from someone like you." Ikuto said, snarling.

"We'll see about that." Kuzan said, walking out with his sword.

Kuzan took one look at her house and with an evil smirk, he's got some huge plans to attack Yuki and follow through with his promise to harm her and her loved ones, then he took one more look at Ikuto and said, "I also know where you live too. Don't think you have the balls to stop me and my crew."

The minute Ikuto heard that, he could tell that Kuzan will do some complete harm to not only Yuki, but to his family too and he whispered, "I gotta warn Yuki and my parents. Don't worry, Yuki...I'll never let this guy harm you."

* * *

Now the action begins! Stay tuned for more!


	21. Team Up

The action begins as Ikuto's parents and Akashi formulate a plan to take down Kuzan and help Yuki.

* * *

Team Up

Ikuto immediately walked back to his house, but he has to do everything he can to make sure that Kuzan doesn't get anywhere near Yuki or any of his loved ones, plus Yuki's family and he's gonna do everything in his power to make sure they're all protected and by the time he got home, he sees Akashi there alongside Kira, Akami, Takamoto, Marceline and several of his Crimson Wolf members standing in the front porch with his parents and he was a little surprised by what's going on there.

Ikuto walks by and wonders what all of this is about and as soon as he gets there, Akashi comes over to him and said, "Kuzan is not gonna lay a hand on my niece. If he thinks he's gonna get away with this, he's got another thing coming."

"You knew...master?" asked Ikuto, a little bewildered.

"Trust me...I have eyes everywhere." Akashi replied.

Kira comes over to Ikuto and she said, "That guy will learn to never mess with my cousin and once I get ahold of him, he's gonna regret what he's gonna do."

"Kira...let me and the Crimson wolves handle this guy. I need you to stay out of the battleground." Akashi said, looking at Kira.

"But dad!" Kira whined.

"But nothing! Me, Marceline and Takamoto will take it from there. You can however...make sure no harm comes to Yuki. But do not fight off anyone." Akashi said, with a hint of warning.

Although Kira does not like that boundary set in, she can at least take part of helping Yuki avoid Kuzan's trail so she won't get caught and said, "Okay."

"Kira is right though...this guy should not mess with my niece or any other girl again." Akashi added.

"We have gotten some very disturbing information about Kuzan and I think it's best to explain this to Yuki and her family." Suko said, very suddenly.

"What kind of information?" asked Akashi.

"Something that will definitely shock all of us." Suko replied.

* * *

10 minutes later

Akashi knocked on Max's door, waiting for someone to answer and not long afterwards, he sees the door open and out comes Miyo coming by, to Akashi's surprise and he asked, "Miyo? What are you doing here?"

"I came in to visit Yuki and see how she's doing. What are you doing?" asked Miyo, looking a little surprised.

"We actually came to talk with Max and Saori. It's really urgent and that involves Yuki." Akashi answered.

"Is it serious?" asked Miyo, a little bit concerned.

"Very serious." Akashi responded.

Just then, Max opened the door and saw Akashi, Ikuto, Kira, Akami, Marceline, Takamoto and the Crimson wolves around the house and he could tell that something serious is going down around here and he asked, "What's going on?"

"My Crimson army has some very disturbing facts about Kuzan that they want to discuss." Akashi replied.

Once Max found out about this, he can see that this will be totally something more than what he had already knew about his daughter's kidnapper and he blinked his eyes and said, "Meet us at the grand room in the basement. I'll gather up everyone except for the younger cubs there."

"Take your time." Suko said.

* * *

8 minutes later

Akashi, Lei, Ikuto, Yang, Kira, Akami, Marceline, Takamoto, Miyo and the rest of the Crimson wolf members headed to the entrance to the grand room basement and once they got there, there was plenty of room to sit around and wait for a while and most of the Crimson members were amazed at how huge this place looks and Suko said, "This is the first time I've ever been here."

"When you have almost 15 kids, you have to expand a room somehow." Akashi stated.

Just then, Max comes in with Saori, Mason, Sonya, Seto, Yuki, Kaiba, Serenity and Marcus as they made their way down the steps and once Yuki saw Ikuto there, she could feel the vibes that there's something up and Ikuto stands up and comes over to Yuki, embracing her with a hug and Yuki hugs back as well, not knowing why.

"What's going on?" asked Yuki.

"We thought you'd find out some horrific things about Kuzan." one Crimson wolf member replied.

Yuki's heart stopped from the moment that Kuzan was mentioned and she wanted to just run away and shut herself down after going through so much pain she had to endure, but after being a survivor and the support of her family, she definitely needs to know more. She then felt Ikuto's gentle paw onto hers and then she looked at him and it was this huge sense of comfort and stability that she has with him and Yuki asked, "What have you found so far?"

"Well...you all might want to sit down." Suko answered.

Everyone sat down as the Crimson wolves started explaining some very disturbing facts about Kuzan and Suko said, "So...what we found out about Kuzan is not only disturbing, but also very damning too. Kuzan has been a repeat offender for rape, murder, assault, kidnap and conspiracy and this guy has got one heck of a rap sheet. Apparently, he started this whole thing when he was 16 by beating up and murdering several girls his age who rejected him and wanted full control of them. He then started spying on girls and stalking them in the most vulnerable places you could think of where no girl deserved to be spied on."

"Our records indicate that so far...he's committed more than 3,000 sickening crimes in a 6 year period and twice more after numerous escapes from prison. His targets are girls ages 16-21 and he rapes, kidnaps and tortures them and puts them under his control until he's finished with them by murdering them; cutting up their bodies, mutilating them or throwing them off a cliff or volcano in hoping no one will find his evidence or follow his tracks." another Crimson wolf member added.

Just hearing the details made Yuki sick to her stomach and it sent Miyo, Akashi, Max and Saori in disgust to think that someone would do something like this to every girl in the world, but what comes next is considered shocking.

"And of those 3,000 girls he had took advantage of, he impregnated 600 girls within those years between the age of 17 through 20 and he's not claiming those girls and their cubs." Suko added.

"That's just lowdown." Saori added.

"I can't imagine someone like that being so reckless, careless and just shows a total disregard for creating a new life by just abandoning them. As a father, that's a sign of cowardice and despicable selfishness." Mason stated.

"You're right on that, Mason." Max agreed.

"Unfortunately, the times he was arrested for them, he escapes the prison in less than a week or when he gets on probation, he violates it and no one would even notice. And when he knows that his probation is violated by re-committing the same crimes, he flees from where he's wanted." another Crimson wolf member added.

"I just came face to face with the guy earlier and he said that he's willing to do anything and everything to get Yuki...even if it means killing her and all of you guys." Ikuto said, very serious.

That was the number-one fear that Yuki is faced with and the fact that it's gonna come true frightens her to the very core and he said, "He's coming for me."

"And he knows where you guys live and where my parents and I live." Ikuto added.

"Oh, bring him over. I'll give him something if he ever sets foot in this house or looks at any other girl." Lei said, snarling.

Yang nods his head in agreement and Akashi said, "Don't worry, you guys. We'll handle this guy."

"If you guys are gonna do this, let me come. I'll make sure that this creep will never get anywhere near my daughter." Max said, standing up.

"Me too!" Mason agreed.

"So will I!" Kiba added.

"I'm in!" Seto stated.

"And me too!" Marcus said, with conviction.

Saori looks up at her husband and sons and she smiled at him and said, "I want to come with too."

"No, Saori. I don't want you to get in the middle of it. We have our newborn to think about and the last thing I want is to see you and our unborn child to get Kuzan's attention." Max said, very calmly.

"Max has a point, sis." Akashi added.

"Maybe you're right. But if he does come over to our house, he'll receive a little gift from my claws." Saori said, unsheathing her claws.

"All of us have to come up with a game plan to take him down and keep Yuki safe from this guy." Akashi added.

"Or...she can stand up on her own two feet and fight this guy back." Seto pointed out.

For the longest time, Yuki had been living in fear with Kuzan and has allowed her to feel helpless and defenseless, but this time...something sparked in her and she just wants to stand up to him and give him a good old what for and she said, "I'll fight him."

Ikuto was surprised to hear this and asked, "Fight him? Are you sure?"

"Very sure. He's not gonna hurt any other girl anymore. I'm not gonna let him take control of me." Yuki said, with a determined, serious look in her face.

"That-a-girl!" Kira cheered.

"Well, then...if you're willing to do so, I'm gonna be right in your corner." Ikuto said, standing on her side.

* * *

Sounds like Kuzan's got a much more dirty agenda than Yuki thought. Yuki's gonna find her strength to face Kuzan later on! Stay tuned! Next chapter...a sweet, intimate moment between Yuki and Ikuto!


	22. Vow of Escape

Before we get to Ikuto and Yuki, let's see a little bit more about this young panther and his siblings.

* * *

Vow of Escape

Back at Kuzan's lowly cavern cell, the young black panther walks down the hallway and he just thinks about all the horrible things he was forced to do for those three years to keep his siblings alive and he just lived in fear, regret and total guilt that he had to cause such harm to a couple of innocent people, even if he didn't have the heart to do so because he couldn't bear the fact that he had to take someone's life. But he knew that he had to do whatever Kuzan says in order for his little brother and sister to stay alive.

During those intense times, some of the victims looked at him in the eye and knows that this isn't a stone-cold hearted killer, but of a scared cub that doesn't want to kill anyone and for the most part...spared the victims' lives and let them live. He doesn't wish any types of revenge against anyone, but Kuzan wants him to think otherwise and just kill, kill, kill until they're dead.

As he thought about it, he tried his best to be strong for his siblings and make sure that everything is gonna be okay and that they'll get out of this. But even when he tries to be a rock for them, he just knows that it's hard to be brave for them and not let them see him cry or feel sad or scared because they'll end up feeling the same way too and that they'll accept the fact that there is no hope.

Soon enough, he goes over to his siblings' cell and as he opens the door, he sees the two siblings; a 10 year old male black panther with green eyes, wearing a tattered grey shirt and tattered silk pants and another one; a 6 year old female panther with golden eyes, wearing just an old blue shirt and ripped grey sweatpants and he said, "Hey, guys. You hungry?"

Both silbings walked over to their older brother and sees two plates of noodles, rolls and kung pao chicken and from the minute the oldest one set them down, they were eating it with some chopsticks and that was one highlight for him to see; his little siblings eating.

"Thanks, Rex." the siblings said, happily.

That was the brightest thing that Rex could see; two of his siblings smiling because they have food and it sorta gave him the strength he needed to fulfill that promise he made; that they'll one day escape from there and find freedom and he patted their heads and said, "You're welcome."

"When will we get out? It's getting scary and boring." the younger brother replied.

"We'll get out someday. Don't worry about it." Rex said, looking at the young brother.

The younger sister comes over to Rex and gives him a hug and Rex hugged her back and then hugged her a little tightly and she said, "What if we never leave?"

"Don't say that, Rainbow. We will leave this place. I promised myself that I'm never gonna let anything happen to you guys and I'm gonna do everything I can to keep you safe and a promise is a promise." Rex replied, looking at her sister's eyes.

Rainbow responds with a little whimper as she buried herself in Rex's side and the younger brother came over as well and he said to him, "We'll make it out, Luke."

"I hope you're right." Rainbow said.

"He will, Rain. You worry too much. I oughta teach that Kuzan guy a thing or two. He doesn't scare me none." Luke said, attempting a few kung-fu moves, only to fall on his side.

Rex chuckled softly at this and that really helps him smile by watching Luke being really silly and Rainbow said, "I wish you could be with us, Rex. You're the best big brother ever."

"Thanks, Rainbow." Rex said, smiling a little.

Afterwards, Rex went in there and told his siblings a little story about finding a new family and starting a great life with that family and making sure that the promise is fulfilled and that really got them to go to sleep and he kissed their foreheads as he silently walked out of the cell and closed the door, but leaving it unlocked so he can check on them from time to time. After walking out of there, he could feel a huge amount of burdens inside of him knowing that Kuzan is will let them go and the fear of losing his siblings weighed heavily on his mind constantly.

He pulls out his necklace with little pictures of himself with Luke and Rainbow in their happy times before losing their parents to Kuzan and all he wants to do is keep them safe and one day, he will defy Kuzan's order and rescue his siblings and get out. But he also knows that that possibility will be very unlikely because of the risk of not only losing Rainbow and Luke, but Rex himself will be killed too.

"Rex...if you want to escape and take your siblings with you, why don't you that?"

Rex looks up and sees this old wolf in the cell and with a heavy sigh, he responds, "How can I? Do you know what it feels like to deal with the fact that your brother and sister's lives are in the balance of a madman? It's hard. It's really freaking hard, okay? These two are all I have. The only family I have left."

The old wolf reaches out to the young panther and just said, "You know you're better than this. You've spared several victims that Kuzan ordered you to kill."

"I don't want them to feel the same way I felt. It's not their fault. But I know that eventually...this will come back to haunt me until my judgment day comes. I love Luke and Rainbow and I look after them as much as I can, but I just wish that they wouldn't have to experience this and stay in this awful place for three years." Rex said, almost tearing up.

"Listen to me. You have a good heart and a very determined spirit. Choose from your heart and do the right thing. Ask yourself this question; what is the right choice for me and what is the right path I want to take; not for just me, but for my brother and sister?" the old wolf said.

Rex pondered on that question for a second and he walks away without another word and made his way back to his cell, laid down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling as that question keeps running through his head and soon...comes to his heart and once he thinks about his siblings, he knows that he'll do anything to keep them safe and sound and to escape from Kuzan's clutches.

With a heavy sigh, he turned to his side and tried his best to go to sleep...with a few tears coming down on his face with despair...mixed in with a sense of hope that they'll get out.

* * *

Poor guy. Let's hope that he and his siblings leave Kuzan's clutches! Next chapter...a moment alone with Ikuto and Yuki!


	23. Arms of a Wolf

We see the deep romance between Yuki and Ikuto grow closer as a tigress feels the love and comfort of a wolf.

* * *

Arms of a Wolf

Back at the Bushido-Akio house, Yuki was sitting on the porch, just feeling the breeze on her fur and she's very conflicted as to how she'll deal with facing Kuzan yet again, but strong enough to stand up on her own two feet and take back the power that Kuzan took away from her and she's got huge backup by her side that will be there to protect her. She heard someone's footsteps behind her and as her ears perked and then she turned around and saw Ikuto coming by and she scooted over to make room for him and as Ikuto sat down, she looked at him for a while and said, "I'm so happy you came to warn me."

"When I met the guy in person, I could tell that he's a huge threat towards you and all the stupid lies he's said about me and you, I wanted to just throw him off a cliff and see how he likes it." Ikuto answered.

"And if I had witnessed it, I would've jumped straight to your arms and kissed you for that reason." Yuki replied.

Ikuto chuckled softly after that remark she made and he said, "Probably for a long time."

"You know, you were the one reason that I survived this ordeal for a year. Whenever I look at you or be around your presence, it just made me feel really safe and secure. I wished I could've told you before, but Kuzan made me not to. For the longest time, I had felt like all of this was my fault because I had done something to make him so mad." Yuki explained.

Ikuto places his hand around her for comfort and he told her, "What you went through is never your fault. It's Kuzan's fault for making you keep it a secret from us. Any man that can beat you, manipulate you and actually tell you what to do, who to meet, where to go, how you eat, sleep, dress or whatever is nothing short of freaking coward. When I heard about those details earlier tonight, I could not have been more disgusted."

"I just can't get over the fact that he put those girls through all of that." Yuki added.

"No one deserves that at all. You definitely didn't deserve that." Ikuto agreed.

Yuki sighed at this and she looks at Ikuto for a second and said, "Everytime I think of you, I can't shake off this feeling that I have about you; my heart melts when I hear your voice, my heart skips a beat when you smile and I get weak in the knees when you kiss me. Your aura is unexplainable, but it's just the amazing feeling I have and whenever I talk to you, you always encourage me to be myself. It just shows that my love for you is so strong."

"I feel the same way about you. It gives me reason to be a better person, better protector and better everything. I can't imagine my life without you." Ikuto said, looking deeply into her eyes.

Yuki stared into his eyes and she felt the same exact way about him and she stroked his cheek and said, "And I can't imagine my life without you either."

"I want to do everything in my power to be there for you until the end of time and protect you always." Ikuto said, half-whispering.

They came close together and kissed each other in the lips and it just shows the amount of love, loyalty and faith that they have and proves that the embrace of a wolf's arms is much stronger than anything and they wrapped their arms around each other to feel each other's love and embrace as they had a tender kiss and afterwards, they looked at each other again and knew that this is what true love feels like.

Yuki rested her head on Ikuto's shoulder, nuzzling him gently with a soft purr and Ikuto kissed her in the forehead and whispered, "I'll protect you with my life, Yuki. I promise."

Both of them were unaware that Max, Saori, Akashi, Miyo, Lei and Yang were watching through their window to see them so deeply in love and they knew in that moment that they were made for each other and Max said to Lei, "I know my daughter's in love with your son."

"Pretty soon, I'll have a daughter in law soon." Lei said, looking pleased.

"And we'll have a son in law." Saori added.

Akashi couldn't agree more and he said, "I think we ought to go over the plan a little bit because I have a feeling that Kuzan could strike soon."

* * *

Just a very sweet moment. The serious stuff with Kuzan is in the next chapter!


	24. Timing is Now

We focus on Rex and his siblings escape Kuzan's cave. Will they make it out?

* * *

Timing is Now

Every single one of Kuzan's army is ready for a lot of bloodshed warfare coming in as they go through the preparations to take down Yuki and make sure that nobody else will know where they live or what they'll do to her and go through the perfect kidnapping scheme to take her down and kill her and if an accomplice is there, he or she will get killed too and Kuzan definitely shows zero mercy for anyone that stops him and with the possibility of getting back to prison looms in, he's determined to do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening, especially murder and causing a post-apocalyptic world.

"Whatever you do, make sure that no one knows what we're up to. And if anyone stops you, do whatever you want with them. But I want Yuki alive and unharmed." Kuzan said, angrily.

They brought in swords, hammers, knives, daggers, shruikens, blades and any types of weapons to use in case someone stops the entire thing as well as taking out Yuki and as Kuzan wanders to his room, he walks over across the wall and sees the myraid pictures of young girls that he had either assaulted, beaten up, chained, burned, murdered, raped, abused, took advantage of and whatever horrible things that he possibly had done and with every single girl, there were red 'X' marks that confirms that he already targeted and Yuki's picture was closer to the bottom and he took out some red ink and painted an 'X' on a picture of her face.

Once he crossed that X, he knows what he's gonna set out to do with Yuki and he's gonna do it and he unsheathed his claw and clawed the picture of her off as a signal that she will die. And there's no doubt that he'll do whatever the heck he wants to do with her and grabs ahold of his chains and said, "This time...you'll have 10 maximum punishments. Oh, have I got something planned for you."

He brings in some of his weapons, plus the chains and places them in a knapsack, pulls out his cape and a mask and gets himself ready to find Yuki while everyone else is nearly ready and as he walks down the lowly prisoner cell, the first thing he has to do is assign Rex for something and he knows what the drill is if he refuses and once he unlocks Rex's door, he sees him still asleep and it wasn't long until he sees Rex wide awake the whole time and Kuzan said, "I've got a job for you."

Rex was dreading whatever assignment Kuzan sets him to do and he gets himself up and said, "What is it this time, sir?"

"I want you to find wherever that boyfriend of hers live and kill his entire family. And if anyone spots you, kill them. Do not disappoint me." Kuzan replied, looking at the panther.

"Where does he even live?" asked Rex.

"Just find where he lives. Besides...I wouldn't want anything to happen to my little brother or sister if I didn't do what my master tells me to do. You wouldn't want that, would you?" Kuzan said, taking out his dagger.

Once Rex saw the dagger, he knew that the resistance was being overpowered by Kuzan's control and he just closed his eyes and said, "Yes, master."

"That's what I thought you said. Now...get on with it." Kuzan said, with a snarl and walks away.

As soon as Kuzan left, Rex was definitely reaching his boiling point as he puts his paws on top of his head in frustration over what he should do or shouldn't do; whether or not he should go through with this. He knew that if he didn't, he would lose his siblings and he would've been the only survivor of the family and that set out the level of how much he wants to protect his siblings.

"Have you chosen what's in your heart, Rex?" the old wolf asked.

Rex's ears perked as soon as he heard what the old wolf just said and walked up to his cell and he said, "What do I do?"

"I can tell that on one hand that you want to do everything you can to protect your siblings, even if you don't want to do the things that Kuzan assigned you to. But you have to ask yourself, 'What is the right decision for me? What does my heart really say?' It's your choice." the old wolf replied.

The simplicity of the old wolf's answer really made him think about his siblings a lot and he knows that it's a huge responsibility to take care of them and keep them alive, even in the face of absolute obstacles and hopelessness and he looks at the sword he carried that he used to do most of Kuzan's dirty work and at that point, he knew that he shouldn't do this and he just threw that sword down because it resembles all the horrible things he had done 3 years ago.

The old wolf looked at this and smiled at the young panther and he said, "You made the very first step."

"I'm getting my siblings out of here." Rex said, determined.

With that, Rex runs off to get his siblings and as he went to their cell, he unlocked the door and opened them, waking up Luke and Rainbow and he got all of their stuff and carried them with him and Rainbow asked, "What's going on, big brother?"

"We're getting out of here." Rex answered.

Luke was amazed that they're finally escaping and he said, "I knew we'd get out of here!"

"Shh! Quiet." Rex whispered, gathering them to make sure the coast is clear.

Rex immediately looked around to see if there's anyone else coming in and as they made their way, a golden sword was thrown behind and Rex turns around to see where that came from and as he looks at it, he looks at the old wolf and gave him a thumbs up and the old wolf said to Rex, "You may need this...for the right purposes."

"Thanks." Rex whispered.

Rex and his siblings made his way out of the cave to get Kuzan and give him a taste of his own medicine, all while the old wolf said, "Good luck, Rex."

Rex keeps going forward to find an escape route to the cave and once he finds a tunnel, it leads all the way down to a slide and it looks very steep, yet stable enough to slide out and he sits down on the slide and his siblings held onto him and said, "Hold on, guys."

They held him as long as he could as they slid all the way down until they've finally reached the light at the end of the slide and finally, after 3 years...they're free. They were completely happy to see the sunshine on their faces and Rex hugged Rainbow and Luke very tightly as he whispered to them, "We're finally free."

"You were right, big brother. Just like you promised." Rainbow said, happily in tears.

"Come on, guys. We've got some unfinished business to tend to." Rex said.

But as they were going somewhere, he found himself cornered with some of Kuzan's guards, surrounding him with arrows and knives and Rex could tell that this was gonna be a hell of a fight and he whispered to his siblings, "Stay close."

* * *

So close! Stay tuned to see the beginning of the action!


	25. It's Time!

And the action officially begins!

* * *

It's Time!

During that early morning, the Bushido-Akio clan along with the Crimson Moon wolves, the Yashida family, Akashi, Miyo, Marceline, Akami, Kira and Takamoto were getting ready to confront Kuzan and all of them came in well-prepared with weapons and everything else too and Max brought in Marcus, Mason, Seto and Kaiba to go along for the trip as well while Saori, Sonya, Seto's fiancee, Marcus' crush and the youngest siblings stay behind for their safety. After several kisses from the older ones, they made their way out and Saori looked at Max and said, "Be careful."

"I will. I promise." Max said, looking into her eyes.

He then rubs her belly slowly to keep their unborn child safe and kisses it too before setting off with the others and Lei said, "Where's Yuki?"

"Yuki's staying at our house for safety. Suko's staying there to make sure no one takes her away while Ikuto's with us." Lei answered.

Even when Ikuto's ready for a fierce battle, he's worried for Yuki's safety and he's gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that she's safe and if Kuzan or someone that works for him tries to harm her, he knows that he'll have to rely on his instincts to defend her and rescue her at all costs. Alongside the other Crimson members, he's ready and willing to do above and beyond for his future mate.

"Are you ready for this, Ikuto?" asked Akashi.

Ikuto looked up at Akashi with a very serious and determined face and replied, "Very ready and willing to put my life on the line for your niece."

Akashi was deeply impressed with Ikuto's answer and he looks like he's ready for it and he leads everyone to find wherever Kuzan or his armies could be and with everything on the line, it's now or never as they march forward and this was gonna be the hugest battle of their lives, but it's one that will be the most fufilled. For Max, he's gonna do anything in his power to make sure his daughter is out of harm's way and if anyone dares to disregard that, he's gonna give them something they'll be sorry for.

As they made their way over, they were totally unaware that half of Kuzan's army is watching them from a further distance and even they can tell that they're on their way to his hideout and in a quick pace of ultimate panic, they were definitely gonna bring the battle to them.

Meanwhile, Akashi has a little bit of a feeling that something's gonna happen at the Yashida house at any minute, but didn't to bring in any further panic yet.

* * *

At the Yashida house

Yuki was laying down on Ikuto's bed, trying to rest up and she could tell that something's gonna happen soon and she looks over at the window and only sees the sun go up and she felt a little bit of anxiety, but a little bit hopeful that Ikuto and the rest of the crew will handle him and make sure that Kuzan will never harm her or another girl again.

However, there is a level of uncertainty in her that she's worried about Ikuto and hopes that he'll be okay through it all because she can't imagine the rest of her life without him and if she needed comforting from Ikuto, she could use it right now. Although being in Ikuto's room helped a little, she still really feels a little nervous.

"Yuki?"

Yuki turns around and sees only Suko coming in the room and she said, "Hi, Suko."

"You okay?" asked Suko.

Yuki sighed heavily and looked at him for a quick second and said, "I think so. But I'm so scared about what will happen next. Kuzan's pretty much unstoppable."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll make sure that he doesn't get anywhere near you. Besides, he won't know even know what hit him when I get ahold of him. He may be unstoppable as you say, but so am I." Suko said.

It gave her a little bit of confidence that Suko will take care of Kuzan and teach him a thing or two about messing with her and he walks off with a comforting smile on his face and a few minutes after he went downstairs, he notices the front door was open and that seemed very suspicious to him because it's already closed. But just as he's about to close the door, he was face-to-face with Kuzan for the first time and Suko said, "Well, we finally meet."

"I don't need your informal introduction. Where is Yuki? I know she's here." Kuzan said, growling.

"Listen, she's not here right now. I suggest you'd leave." Suko said, snarling dangerously.

Kuzan was not convinced with that answer and he said, "You're lying. I know she's here. I can sense it!"

"You're not gonna find her here. I can tell you that right now." Suko replied, holding out his sword.

Kuzan turned around and noticed Suko's carrying a sword for battle and Kuzan lets out a sinister smirk and said, "This could end easily."

Kuzan brought out his chains and swiped Suko in the face with it to knock him out, but Suko got back on his feet very quickly and garbbed the chains and whopped him in the face back and in the head harder and he flipped Kuzan and slammed him down to the floor and punched him down. Kuzan got knocked down, but he was not giving up.

Kuzan went forward, grabbed Suko by the hand and threw him down the ground hard and left him there to go upstairs to find Yuki and he went through room to room, kicking down every door to find her and she was not in any of them and it was only when he walked past Ikuto's room that he found her.

Yuki looked up and saw Kuzan standing there and she was frightened as heck that she came face to face with him again and he's holding onto some chains to trap her and Yuki backed away from him and Kuzan said, "There's no escape now. You'll get what you rightfully deserve what's coming to you."

"You need to leave me alone now!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Never! And I'm gonna make sure that you don't make it out alive this time!" Kuzan shouted.

Yuki tires to run out of the room, but Kuzan immediately grabs her and Yuki starts screaming wildly and flailing her arms to get her out of his clutches, but Kuzan keeps preventing her from causing attention from anyone that will stop her and she drags her downstairs all while Yuki's screaming and by the time he ran out of there, Suko immediately ran after him to get Yuki out of his clutches, but Kuzan turned around and knocked him out cold with his fist.

"SUKO!" Yuki screamed.

"He should not have interfered!" Kuzan screamed back, after slapping her in the face hard.

Meanwhile, Marcus' ears perked up something from the distance and this was a huge one and he stopped for a while and figured something was wrong and Mason noticed this and asked, "Why'd you stop, Marcus?"

"It's Yuki." Marcus replied.

Just then, Ikuto heard that scream from a clear distance and it was a sound that he was terrified to hear and it was definitely Yuki's scream and he said, "Something's wrong."

"And you both are right. Kuzan might've already got her." Akashi said.

With that mindset, they immediately ran to the Yashida house to find out what's happening and by the time they got there, they saw Suko slowly getting up, feeling the pain from his face and Akashi went forward and asked, "Suko, what happened?"

Suko groans in pain as he tries to stand himself up, then realizes what happened and he said, "That Kuzan guy came over and took Yuki out of there. I tried to go after them, but then I blacked out."

Lei comes in the house and walks upstairs and sees most of Kuzan's evidence; the doors were kicked out hard and she went to Ikuto's room and sees a ying-yang symbol necklace on the front of Ikuto's bed and she can tell that it was Yuki's. Ikuto immediately went in and saw his mother holding that necklace and the many things he went through his head; fear, worry, anxiety, anger, outrage and a little bit of vengance.

"When I find this guy...he's gonna wish he messed with her." Ikuto said, growling.

"Wherever he took her, he won't get far." Lei agreed.

All of a sudden, they heard fighting sounds come out of nowhere and they raced downstairs to find out what's the cause of it and they immediately saw that everyone's fighting with Kuzan's army and Ikuto definitely has a desire to fight them off to see where he had taken Yuki and he went towards one of them and knocked him down with his chain hammer and pounded him hard and he asked, "Where's your boss?"

* * *

Yuki got kidnapped by Kuzan again! Now it's getting serious!


	26. Ikuto's Battle Love Rage

And this is Ikuto's side...when someone messes with Yuki.

* * *

Ikuto's Love Battle Rage

Some of Kuzan's army were being beaten up, punched and chased by Akashi, Miyo, Marceline, Akami, Kira, Takamoto and most of the Bushido-Akio men as well as the Crimson Wolf members as they fight them to find where Kuzan took Yuki and most of those army were fighting back, willing to stop at nothing to get them off their backs with their weapons. But that wasn't gonna stop the Crimson Wolf members from going after Kuzan's army to rescue Yuki and they're going above and beyond to take them down. No one was more willing to take them down harder than Max as he pounced on all five of them and knocked them down, flipped them down, bashed their heads on a tree and clawed them with zero mercy.

It shows that when someone messes with Max's family, they'd better watch out because he fights hard for his family and when one of the army members saw a very ferocious Max coming after him, he was definitely frightened just by the sheer look on his face and he came close to the army, grabbing him by the chest and with a snarl, he asked, "Where is my daughter?"

"What are you?" asked one army member, quivering in fear.

"The last person you'll ever see if your master or some of you ever harm my daughter. Now where...is she?" asked Max, with fiery eyes.

But no one was more serious or more ferocious than Ikuto himself as he summoned his Soul Spirit from the underworld after biting his own thumb and used his own blood to summon him and as Rake appears, he looks at most of the army standing by in complete anxiety. One of the crew asked, "Tell me this isn't real and we're all asleep."

Rake looks up at Ikuto and asked, "You summon me, master?"

"I want you to go after Kuzan's army. One of them knows where their master took Yuki." Ikuto answered.

Rake looks at the crew for a second, then his fiery eyes glared directly at them and unsheathes his claws and fangs and replies, "Yes, master."

"Kill him!" one of Kuzan's crew members shouted.

Rake sees the crew coming in after him with many swords and weapons and Rake was quick to go after them and opens up his claws and slices them all in pieces and opened up their flesh to destroy them in many ways and that leaves several of the other army members stunned to see this in person and all of them ran after them to avenge them, but Rake was very quick to see them as he popped in from the shadows and went after them while Ikuto sees at least one of them trying to run out to find Kuzan and he quickly ran after him and when that lone survivor saw Ikuto following him, he tried to lose him as quickly as he could.

But what he didn't anticipate is that Ikuto ran faster in all four legs in top speed and he could see that he's no match for him, even though he tried to lose him as quick as he could and he's nearing closer to where Kuzan's prison is, but before he knew it...in comes Rake coming in front of him, snarling.

He stops for a quick second and there was fear in the survivor's eyes and he brings in his sword to kill him, but his palms are sweating and shaking from holding it and he said, "Stay back! I'm warning you!"

Rake could see the fear through his guy's eyes and he quickly swiped off the sword from his hand, leaving the young survivor totally defenseless and he backed away very slowly, but he made the mistake in doing so because Ikuto's standing right behind him and he turns around and sees avery furious Ikuto standing there.

"Oh, come on..." the survivor said, whimpering.

Rake grabs the survivor by the ankles and pummels him down and he hangs onto him and he asked, "Should I eat him?"

"Not yet, Rake. Not until he tells me where Kuzan took Yuki." Ikuto replied.

The young survivor panted heavily and looked at Ikuto and he said, "I don't know where he took her."

"Rake...beat him down until he tells us." Ikuto replied.

Rake nods his head and proceeds to pummel him hard, bash his head against the ground, the trees and throws him down and his claws digging through his shoulder, causing the survivor to scream and groan in agonizing pain and Ikuto kicked him in the face hard and Ikuto told him, "The only way out of your misery is to tell me where Kuzan took Yuki!"

"Why do you care about that skank of a tigress? Shouldn't you fall for someone your species?" asked the survivor.

Offended by that comment, Ikuto looks at Rake and gives him the nod to continue knocking him down and while Rake beats up the survivor, Ikuto replied, "Because there's no other girl that I love more than Yuki and it doesn't matter what everyone thinks about different species! I will do anything to protect her, love her and keep her safe and sound! I care because I love her! And if anyone does something to her, they'll hear it from me and Rake!"

"Eat him now?" asked Rake.

"Go for it." Ikuto answered.

Rake goes in to eat him until the survivor stops and said, "Okay, okay, okay! I'll tell you!"

Rake stops by Ikuto's command and Ikuto comes over to him and asked, "I'm listening."

"He took Yuki back to his cave where he's carrying these chains. He might be tying her up in those things and imprison them...possibly raping her." the survivor said.

That was good enough for him and he lets him go and he makes one final warning; knocking him in the head with a chain hammer and Ikuto looks at Rake and nods his head to finish him off and to the young survivor's terror, he sees Rake coming by to eat him and suddenly...it all goes black.

* * *

Imagine the scene ending in black! So awesome! Next up...Yuki still lives...in chains!


	27. Manipulated by a Monster

Yuki finally stands up to Kuzan after being kidnapped and Kuzan's manipulation goes higher...but leaves her undeterred.

* * *

Manipulated by a Monster

Yuki groans softly as she slowly opens her eyes, blinks them and finds herself in a different dark room and when she looks around, she notices that she's back in the same place that she was being held by Kuzan and she didn't want to stick around any longer and before she even ran off, she finds herself stuck and tries to move around, but she looks down and finds herself not only half-stripped from her clothes, but tied with some heavy chains and she found herself in that same position again.

Yuki groans at this and said, "Not again..."

Just then, the door opens and she sees Kuzan coming in with half of his surviving crew and from the looks of this, this was no good and Yuki knew that this was the point where enough was enough and as Kuzan came towards her, he looked very furious and filled up with rage and he said, "You should never had left me without my permission!"

"I didn't need your stupid permission! I left on my own terms because I can't stand to be with you!" Yuki exclaimed, furiously.

"How dare you talk back at me! I own you and I can do whatever the hell I want with you!" Kuzan shouted back.

Yuki growls in response, directly to his face and said, "You don't own me. I'm sick of being your little rag doll that gets played with or thrown around and free to do whatever you want with me in your own free will!"

Kuzan slaps her straight in the face afterwards because he was not gonna tolerate being talked back by her and he snarls at her and said to her, "I should kill you right now. And for you to tell anyone about what you did to me...you have crossed the line."

Yuki grunts and gained enough strength to stand up, despite being chained by him and said, "You crossed the line when you tried to rape me one year ago."

"I still might." Kuzan growled.

"If I wasn't in chains, I would whack you in the head right now." Yuki said, with an angry snarl.

"I dare you to do so." Kuzan replied, then proceeds to beating her up, slapping her and pinning her down to the wall, with his claws digging through her shoulder, causing Yuki to groan in agonizing pain, but then she used her toe claws to strike him in the ankles, making Kuzan roar in pain.

Kuzan kept beating her down and punching her in the face with his brass knuckles and brutally attacking her until she's black and blue, but Yuki spat out her blood as she stands up, still facing Kuzan and she said to him, "You can't rule over me...or any other girl."

"I can do whatever I want! Besides...your family should be dead right now. They probably died because of you and that they wished you were never born! Had you stayed with me and done what I wanted you to do, none of this would've happened!" Kuzan roared.

Just from hearing that her family was killed, Yuki did not want to believe every lie he could come up with and she said, "Lies! All lies! You're a liar!"

Then...he drops the biggest lie he could ever think of...

"Oh yeah? Well, I killed Ikuto. I wanted to make sure he would never live to see you again!" Kuzan said, with an evil smirk.

That completely shattered Yuki's world when she heard that her one true love was killed by Kuzan and even though it was a lie, she felt that this was the most painful feeling she ever felt before and she growled, "You're lying!"

"Am I?" asked Kuzan, when he shows her a little piece of Ikuto's chain pendulum, which 'confirms' his so-called murder.

Yuki felt completely stunned and saddened by this as she got down on her knees and just cried, leaving her totally devastated and entertaining for Kuzan with a cold smirk on his face and he said to her, "He got what he deserved. He's a rapist and a murderer."

He walks away from the cell, but not before looking at her and saying, "When I get back, you're gonna get the punishment of your life."

After that, he closes the door and locks it shut and afterwards, he walks away and brings out his sword and said, "She's so easy to fool. When that Ikuto actually does come, he'll be killed for real."

* * *

Back at the cell, Yuki was crying, mourning over Ikuto's death...but a deep instinct tells her that Kuzan's lying and that Ikuto's alive and that he will find her and she went from devastated to enraged about that lie and she swore that she will escape from this prison and find him still alive. She struggled to break through those chains as she tried to break herself free from there, but then she realized that she could use her claws to unlock them and as she did so, all of the chains fell down to her ankles, prompting her to be free and she immediately got her vest and pants, puts them back on and checks to see the coast was clear and luckily, there was no one walking around and she unlocks the door with her claws and escaped quickly.

As Yuki runs off to find escape, she heard a couple of footsteps and scuffling from a distance and as it got closer, she slowly pops her head up and sees Kira fighting off a couple of guards, trying to stop her and she wanted to get her attention, but not from the guards.

But then...Yuki found herself caught with that teenage panther Rex with a sword and she looked frightened by his muscular tall build and fears the worst that he might actually kill her, but as she looked into the panther's eyes, he didn't look fierce nor ready to kill. He was really scared to do this because he had shed too much blood before and just when she was gonna talk to him, in comes Kira, knocking him out.

"Run, Yuki! I'll handle this guy!" Kira shouted, as she fought with Rex.

* * *

I executed this next chapter in my head that Kira thinks that the young prisoner panther was one of Kuzan's army members. See how the next chapter turns out!


	28. Never an Enemy

And now we get to the first meeting...or battle with Rex and Kira as Rex tries to calm this misunderstanding.

* * *

Never an Enemy

Rex grunts in pain as he got kicked in the face and guts and when he tries to get himself back up, he finds himself cornered by a furious Kira coming onto him holding his sword and in a stroke of fear, he slowly gets up and told her, "Listen, I don't want to cause any trouble."

"Well, you just walked right into it, buddy." Kira said, growling.

"I wasn't even gonna kill her. It's not in my intent to do so. All I wanted was to get her out of there before Kuzan catches her leaving." Rex explains.

Kira was so full of fury that she didn't take any of Rex's explanation as the truth and she said, "Yeah, right! Like I'm gonna believe every lie you said."

"That's not a lie! It's the truth!" Rex exclaimed.

"Shut up! I'm done talking to you!" Kira shouted, beginning to fight him off by slamming him down to a wall and grabbing his tail and knocking him down to the ground.

Rex tries to get up, but when he does, he gets pummeled and mowed down by Kira with the usage of her claws. Rex grabs ahold of her and tries to get her off of him, thus defending himself instead of punching her out and when he tried to defend himself, Kira kicks him straight to the groin and slams him down hard, flips him down and claws him in the nose, causing Rex to roar in pain.

Rex was beaten, bloodied up and clawed up by a girl, yet he tried to stop her from fighting so he wouldn't take any drastic measures and Kira angrily looked up at the panther with a huge amount of fury in her eyes and she said, "We can do this all day."

"Listen to me! I'm not even here to kill her or fight you!" Rex shouted.

"Then why did you get at my cousin with that sword of yours?" asked Kira, holding the sword close to his neck.

Rex was very fearful of what Kira's gonna do next and all he has to do is tell nothing but the truth, regardless of how she will take it, but will not run the risk of getting another beating from Kira and Rex exhales deeply and said, "Kuzan's crew forced me to do this after finding out that she had escaped in her own terms. I refused to do it, but they told me that they'll report this to Kuzan about my refusal to take orders from them and they'll end up killing my younger siblings. I don't want any harm to come to them at all. I really didn't want to kill her because my heart wasn't really in it because I had shed way too many blood for 3 years of doing Kuzan's work. When I found her, I really wanted the prisoner to escape from his clutches before Kuzan could find out, so I played it off like I was really gonna do what the guards say. I just didn't have to heart to do any harm because I've done too much hurt. Couldn't you tell that my paws were trembling when I held that sword?"

Kira listened to everything he was saying and for a while, her fury started to dwindle a little bit and it became very evident that this was no killer. This was someone that was being controlled or being told what to do by Kuzan just to keep his younger siblings alive and from the looks of the panther's facial expressions, he was a mixture of fear, guilt, worry and regret of all the baggage he had to carry for 3 years of doing Kuzan's work.

"You don't understand what it's like to have your siblings' lives in the balance of a madman like Kuzan and have to live with that thought in the back of your head every day. I'm afraid for them and I want to keep them safe and alive as much as I can. They're the only ones I have left of my family...after Kuzan killed our parents three years ago. Do you even know what it's like to live through this kind of torture of not knowing whether your little brother and sister will live or die? I have to deal with so much in my shoulders for so long." Rex said, voice breaking at the last parts.

Kira could tell that everything he said was just genuine and 100% truthful and she went towards the panther and she asked, "Why couldn't you just leave this place and take them with you?"

"I tried this morning, but the guards are very quick and swift and forced us back. And one of them got my siblings. They told me the only way for me to keep them alive was to kill Yuki, but I knew I didn't want to do it. I've caused too many harm just to keep my siblings alive." Rex replied.

Kira then dropped that sword and just took in everything he had said and she told him, "Where are they now?"

A few of the guards circled around Luke and Rainbow, shackling them in chains while holding an ax and a sword and both of the siblings were pretty scared about what they're gonna do to them and both of the guards were looking at them and said, "Does any of you want to know what it feels like to have your heads off?"

"I don't even want to know!" Rainbow whined.

One of the guards slapped Rainbow in the face just for that whine and Luke growls at them and said, "You can't do that to my sister, you jerk!"

"Shut up, boy! We don't take orders from you!" another guard said.

Just then, the guards heard something from the hall and went out of the cell to check it out and by the time they got out a quarter mile away from the cell, in comes Rex coming in getting Luke and Rainbow and both siblings were so happy to see their older brother and hugging them tightly. He looks at them and asked, "Are you guys okay?"

"One of the guards slapped my sister." Luke answered.

"Don't worry. We're getting out of here now." Rex replied, unlocking them out of the shackles and freeing them.

Just then, they heard punching and kicking along with some demonic roar from a clear distance and they saw the two guards running for their lives while being chased by Dina as she comes towards the two guards and use her swords to slice up the two in a flash, then stabs them in the stomach with her sword and just lift them up in the skies and leaves them in the ground.

Both younger siblings looked very frightened to see Dina for the first time, but as soon as she came close to them, she extended a paw to show that she's here to help them and Kira shows up and said, "Let's get the heck out of here and find Yuki."

"She's here to help us, you guys." Rex said, reassuring them.

Yuki first meets Luke and Rainbow for the first time and by the looks of them, she was taken aback by how adorable they are and she said, "They're so cute. When I find the guy that slapped one of you..."

"Hey!"

They all turned around and saw more guards coming in and they went after them, but Dina immediately fought them off with the use of her sword and she told them, "You're going down like a slice of bloody bananas!"

"None of that even makes sense!" one guard shouted.

"Deal with it!" Dina shouts back.

One of the guards fiercely growls and said, "KILL HER! And kill those kids too!"

But as the guards did so, they were all cornered by Dina as she sliced, stabbed and cuts them down with the use of her sword until every inch of the guards' body parts were scattered all over the place and Rex covered his siblings' eyes to prevent from seeing the maximum damage.

"Believe me, this is only the half of it." Kira replied.

As Kira and the others made their way out, they found Yuki taking charge and beating up someone that tried to take part in Kuzan's disgusting idea and before long, they noticed that the person that wanted to take advantage of Yuki was just not as tough as he was, but rather just a scared victim of Kuzan's beatings.

"All right, Yuki! Who knew?" asked Kira, cheering.

"Please let me go!" the random crew member pleaded.

Yuki lets him go and it leaves the panicked, yet very troubled guy completely shaken and he said, "And I thought Kuzan's beatings were much worse."

"You weren't really gonna take advantage of her, weren't you?" asked Rex.

"No. I wanted to help her escape, but she thought that I was one of her guards. I just can't deal with being suffocated here and I've caused so much harm to everyone because of Kuzan. All I want is to get out of here and try to redeem myself from all the stupid stuff that I've done." the victim responds.

Yuki could see that this was just an honest mistake in beating him up and she said, "I'm so sorry about that."

"I kinda deserved it anyway. I did try to follow you." the victim replied.

Kira comes over to Yuki and hugs her tightly and she looks at Yuki and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here?" asked Yuki.

"What does it look like? I'm here to save you." Kira answered.

Yuki blinked her eyes for a quick second and asked, "Does your dad know you're here?"

"No. I snuck out after we split up in searching for Kuzan's prison cave. Ikuto is looking all over for you and I could tell that he's completely worried about you." Kira answered.

Yuki widened her eyes at this ayt the realization that Ikuto's looking for her and she said, "Let's go find him. Kuzan made up this stupid lie that he murdered Ikuto and we have to find him before he really does kill him."

"Let's not waste anytime. We got to get out of here now! I'm glad I got away with sneaking out of my dad's sight." Kira stated.

"I wouldn't say that, Kira."

Just then, Kira sees Akashi emerging from the shadows alongside Jeff, Lulu, Sally and Laz behind him and she face-palms herself and said, "Seriously!"

"We'll discuss your grounding later. Right now, we got to find Yuki!" Akashi exclaimed.

"Hello, uncle." Yuki said, looking at Akashi, waving her paw.

Akashi immediately went over to Yuki and hugged her tightly and just then, Max comes behind and hugs his daughter as well and Yuki said, "I'm so glad you guys came."

"I knew you'd be okay. Did that creep release you already?" asked Max.

"No, I got out on my own." Yuki answered.

Max chuckled softly at this and he said, "That's my daughter. We have to get out of here now and find Kuzan."

"And fast!" Akashi exclaimed.

* * *

Stay tuned for more awesome action coming your way!


	29. Pre Showdown

Face-off with Kuzan and Ikuto! And Ikuto is gonna see how manipulating Kuzan can really be.

* * *

Pre-Showdown

Outside on the cavern prison, Ikuto walks over towards the entrances to where Yuki is being held prisoner at and if Kuzan did any harm to her, he's bringing in 10 times more worse to Kuzan and it would be painful for Kuzan and if needed, he'll bring in Rake for assistance in case things go down. As he kept walking by, he kept his guard up to be aware of what's happening and he came totally prepared with his hammer chain with a pendulum on his waist. As he kept walking by, he looks at the silver necklace that he intends to give to Yuki as a symbol of their love and unity towards each other and he holds it tightly and said, "I will find you, Yuki. Just hold on."

He puts it on his side pocket to prevent losing it or having to run the risk of getting it stolen and just kept wandering around to search for Kuzan...yet he's completely unaware that Kuzan's looking at him from an above distance, patiently waiting. But Kuzan has other plans for Ikuto and as he leaps down from the ground, close to where Ikuto was, he definitely gave him something to pay attention to.

As Ikuto's ears perked, he turns around and comes face to face with Kuzan and he became completely serious and a little bit menacing and Kuzan said, "So...you're man enough to come here, aren't you?"

"Enough small talk. Where is Yuki?" asked Ikuto, angrily with his fist closed tight.

"You mean my wife?" asked Kuzan, with a smirk.

That literally made Ikuto very enraged to hear that because obviously it's a lie. If Kuzan 'married' her, he would have a ring on and Ikuto immediately pins him down to the wall, growling angrily and he said, "That's a full-on lie. I can see it in your face. Now where the hell is she?!"

Kuzan shoves him down to the ground and he said to him, "Why would you want her anyway? She's mine and you know that much better!"

Ikuto wanted to slice off Kuzan's entire head until he tells him where Yuki is and he said, "I'm not putting up with your games here. You're gonna tell me now...WHERE IS YUKI?!"

Then, Kuzan throws off the biggest response or lie he could ever bruing Ikuto's world down to manipulate him and with an evil smirk, he answered, "You won't find her here...because she's dead."

Shock went through Ikuto's head after he hears this and he backs away slowly in disbelief and he whispered, "No..."

"Yes...she's dead." Kuzan said, evilly.

"No!" Ikuto exclaimed.

"I killed her myself. If I can't have her, she can't have life as well. Besides...she deserves to be killed. She's a worthless, no-good pathetic girl who doesn't even deserve you." Kuzan said, in a cold tone.

Tears were filling up Ikuto's eyes to hear the devastating news that Yuki got 'killed' by the hands of Kuzan and he closed his eyes for a minute to mourn, but then opens his eyes with tears still in his eyes, but in a rage that Kuzan was responsible for this and he said, "You crossed the line. Now you're going to pay for what you have done to my true love!"

"You? A wolf like yourself in love with a tigress? That is against the laws of nature! You're never good enough for her!" Kuzan exclaimed.

All of those stinging words that Kuzan instilled in Ikuto's brain and he's already heard the news from Kuzan's mouth and he's not gonna take this lying down and Ikuto got himself up in a rage and he said, "You're a liar!"

Just then, half of Kuzan's army surrounded Ikuto, all drawn with swords, knives, arrows and more weapons to get Ikuto with, but Ikuto is willing to fight back for Yuki and Kuzan said, "Looks like you're gonna be next in line to be killed. I'll make sure that you'll join Yuki."

"You've asked for it." Ikuto said, angrily.

* * *

Spoiler alert in the next chapter: Yuki's still alive! But the action...is just beginning!


	30. Showdown Time!

Showdown's going down for real! Cue the 'GDFR' song!

* * *

Showdown Time!

Kuzan and Ikuto looked at each other with a huge combination of hate, anger, fury and complete rage as they were ready to take each other down, yet Ikuto feels the coarsing rage stem through him because of Kuzan's manipulative news that Yuki's been murdered and with Kuzan's army surrounding him by the minute, Ikuto knew that he's not gonna let them win this war and before it even begins, Ikuto bit his thumb hard as he used his blood to summon Rake from underground and as Rake pops out beside him, most of the crew were in surprise as to why he's there.

"What the heck is that?" one of the crew members asked.

"Whatever the heck it is, we need to kill it." another one answered.

Kuzan laughs at this and he didn't really think that having Rake around would be a fierce battle and would easily kill him because there's two of him and only thousands of Kuzan's army and Kuzan said, "You're gonna be finished real quick. Attack!"

With that, every army member went in to attack Rake, but Ikuto exclaimed, "Rake...finish them off!"

"With pleasure, master!" Rake answered.

Before long, Rake slays his another army member with the use of his claws and slices them up quickly with his long claws with zero mercy as pieces of blood and body parts are scattered, which leaves the crew stunned and outraged, but before the crew could even pursue to kill Rake, they stood no chance against someone like him.

Rake comes over and attacks them all as he slices, dices, stabs and slays the entire army very fast without any amounts of slowing down and half of them he consumed with just one bite and swallowed them on the insides of his mouth and under just 3 minutes, they're all killed and consumed, which both shocked and angered Kuzan the most.

"That does it! You killed all of my army!" Kuzan shouted, furiously.

Ikuto growls at Kuzan and he looks directly at him and he cracked his knuckles and said, "Like I said, enough small talk. Let's end this!"

"You're going down first, wolf!" Kuzan shouted, coming after him with his swords.

As Kuzan ran to slice off Ikuto, he soon sees him getting punched in the stomach, head and sides with his feet and Ikuto grabs Kuzan by the arm and flips him around the ground as well as in the walls and fiercely throws him down and body slams him to the ground, punching him directly to the face and biting him. Kuzan grunts in pain afterwards, but he has other plans for Ikuto as he claws him straight to the face, causing Ikuto to groan in pain.

Despite getting clawed by Kuzan, Ikuto wasn't gonna give up without a fight and viciously attacks Kuzan by clawing, beating and brutally bashing him down in a heat of rage and pins him down to the ground and both of them rolled around the ground, wrestling with each other and Kuzan kicks Ikuto down with his feet and Ikuto slams to the wall, then hits the ground.

Ikuto groans in pain and he keeps standing up as he refuses to give in and Kuzan was already annoyed with Ikuto still fighting and he keeps slamming him down and flipping him down, but Ikuto grabs him by the hand and then slams him down and throws him back to the ground with his foot standing against his neck and he said, "You took the one person I love away from me!"

"She had no business being with you! You're a wolf and she's a tiger! If you had a brain, you'd know that wolves kill tigers! It's the principal of nature!" Kuzan shouted.

"Whoever said that stupid theory might not have found love!" Ikuto spat out.

Kuzan shoved Ikuto down to the ground and attempted to slice him, but only ripped his vest half open and Ikuto punched him straight to the face and knocked him to the ground. After Kuzan got down, Ikuto panted heavily as he removed his vest and sets it down to the floor so that he can keep on fighting Kuzan.

"You could've done better than that! I know you wolves like the back of my head! You are the natural enemy against us felines, enslaved to take over our rights and condemn us for life! The fact that you're in love with a tiger disgusts me! You probably raped a couple of felines in your time and murdered them and controlled them to do your own bidding and if they disobey, they get brutally punished and set on fire and take advantage of them at your own free will!" Kuzan wildly shouted.

All of Kuzan's accusations completely set off Ikuto and he knew that this guy is completely out of touch with reality and he said, "That is the most stupidest thing I've ever heard of! We wolves may not have the best reputation, but we would NEVER in any shape or form take advantage of anyone! And so what if people say that a wolf and a feline shouldn't be in love?! I love Yuki with all of my heart and will always protect her, love her and give her everything that you never knew how to treat any woman; kindness, love, respect, patience and selflessness!"

"All those are signs of weakness!" Kuzan shouted.

Ikuto bashed him in the face with his chain-hammer really hard, which sent the killer panther hurtling to the ground hard and Ikuto argued, "Treating her like your personal slave...that's weak! Not only that, but you're nothing but a coward!"

Kuzan took that as an offense and he snarled loudly and asked, "What did you just say?"

"You heard me." Ikuto said, growling.

Kuzan went on the deranged and crazy anger based on that comment and he went full-on attack mode on Ikuto as he fiercely attacked him very furiously, but Ikuto fought back with a huge panache of fury and as they were about to put the final fight in, someone out of the blue with a panicked fear interrupted them and said to Kuzan, "The prisoner! She's escaped!"

Kuzan immediately stopped on his tracks and looked at one of Kuzan's lackeys and asked, "Who escaped?! I'm in the middle of a fight here!"

"That tigress! She escaped! As well as the other prisoners!" the panicked lackey replied.

Kuzan froze for a second in a deep rage and he grabbed the lackey and asked, "How could you let this happen?!"

"I'm sorry, master! Your kidnapping and murder plot to kill Yuki after killing the wolf has been foiled!" the panicked lackey answered.

Suddenly...it hit Ikuto. Not only the fact that Yuki's still alive, but that there were more victims and prisoners around there and also an elaborate plot to have him killed before he could get to Yuki and the fact that Yuki's still relieved him, but he's still feeling the anger stemming for the fact that Kuzan lied straight to his face and he immediately pinned Kuzan down to the ground, putting his claws inside his shoulder, causing Kuzan to groan in pain.

"I'm gonna ask you again before we even fought and told me that lie...where is Yuki?" Ikuto asked, growling.

* * *

Yuki's still alive! More showdown is on the way!


	31. Bigger Showdown

And we see another showdown between Yuki, Max, Akashi and the rest of the gang!

* * *

Bigger Showdown!

At the cave, Akashi, Max, Kira, Akami and Yuki fought off the rest of the guards and most of them tried to get Yuki, but the guards were outnumbered by Max's fierce fighting skills, Akashi's unstoppable fighting moves as well as the Soul Keeper's attacks and the Crimson Wolf members going in for the major beating and there was definitely no stopping them. Some of them tried to kill Max, but Max knew when to outsmart them by running after them and sees a dead end, then runs back to the gang while the guards fell all the way down from that dead end.

Yuki was amazed by her father's quick-thinking and she looked at her father with a very impressive reaction and she said, "Whoa..."

Max looked at his daughter with a smile on his face and said, "Impressive, huh? Most of those were taught by your uncle...as well as my own tricks."

"That's awesome, uncle Max." Kira said, amazed.

"Yep. I used those to good use whenever I pranked your father when I was a cub. Made me the skilled fighter I am today." Max answered.

Akashi was very unimpressed by that remark he just made, yet admiring his quick thinking at the same time and all of a sudden, Jeff, Lulu, Sally, Rize, Dina and Laz came around to attack several of Kuzan's guards and some of them were scared off by Lulu's eyeless look while being slashed into pieces by Jeff and Sally, leaving behind a trail of scattered body parts all around.

"We are so good at this." Jeff said, chuckling.

"Yep, I never thought we can have so much fun scaring the priss out of those guards." Sally agreed.

Meanwhile, Rex fought off with several of the other guards that gave him and his siblings heck and the other prisoner victims fought alongside with him; all ranging from ages 17-78 from different species that all wanted vengance against Kuzan and Rex showed off his fierce moves for the first time by clawing, punching and flipping every guard down with a little help from the prisoners and Rex received a huge surprise that the old wolf that has been his guide for 3 years has fighting skills as he did some backflips, as well as punching, kicking and showing off some kung-fu/ninja moves as he's knocked out several other guards.

"Never mess with the old school wolf fighter." the old wolf said, panting.

"You're awesome..." Rex said, amazed.

A few other lackeys of Kuzan's tackled Yuki down and tried to take advantage of her, but she wasn't gonna let them have it as she clawed them in the faces fiercely as the guards groan in pain, nearly blinded by Yuki's claws and they were gonna go after her, but got tackled by Max and Akashi as they punched, kicked and threw them down hard while Max went forward and added some more claw scratches directly to their faces and Akashi went forward and knocked them down and struck them with his sword.

"That's for my niece!" Akashi spat out.

"And my daughter!" Max agreed.

Several of the Crimson Wolf members plus Marcus, Mason, Seto and Kaiba went forward and fought the guards off with everything they got plus Lei and Yang gave them a huge amount of beatings and messed-up faces all before they set out to finish them off and the ghouls were left to clean up the mess by killing them and leaving a whole lot of dead bodies everywhere.

Everyone came together as they looked at each other and saw that they've accomplished in getting rid of Kuzan's entire guards and Max said, "Good work, everyone."

"Now let's go find Kuzan. I hope Ikuto's okay." Yuki said, worrying about Ikuto.

Everyone ran off to the escape route and they heard fighting sounds from the outside and when Yuki popped out, she saw Ikuto fighting with Kuzan and it looks as if Ikuto's winning this fight and then, to her horror, Kuzan brought in his mace to kill Ikuto and she immediately ran out and pounced him to stop him, while screaming, "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Ikuto's ears perked up and when he turned around, he saw his beloved Yuki coming after Kuzan and at that moment, she was alive.

"Yuki..." Ikuto said, breathless.

* * *

And the fight continues!


	32. Final Showdown pt 1

Three-part showdown is here! The entire crowd fights off against Kuzan and his army of guards...whatever guards he has left and Yuki fights Kuzan for the first time! Cue the 'Break Free' song from Ariana Grande!

* * *

Final Showdown, pt. 1

Yuki was finally taking charge and finally attacked Kuzan fiercely after all the crap she had to endure with him for a whole year of being her slave and personal punching bag as well as well as being controlled and manipulated for so long and unveiled a fiercer side of her and not taking any crap from him anymore and his abusive ways and Kuzan fought back with such panache, but it didn't have the slightest effect on her as she fought back harder than ever and clawed him in the face, adding to the criminal panther's fury.

While she's fighting, Ikuto was greatly amazed at not only the fact that Yuki's still alive, but that she has great fighting skills to fight off someone like Kuzan and immediately rooted for her to finish him off and he's deeply grateful that she's defending him so fiercely and it shows the amount of loyalty she has for him as much as he's loyal to her.

Kuzan fought Yuki off, but he couldn't escape her fury wrath as she grabs him by the neck and shouts, "LEAVE MY BOYFRIEND ALONE, YOU MONSTER!"

She then wrestles him to the ground, attacking him head-on and gives him the biggest KO she could receive and after awhile, Kuzan was knocked out a little bit and when she got up, she panted heavily and dusted herself off after that and took a deep breath afterwards and then she turns around and sees Ikuto standing there and immediately runs over to him, hugging him tightly as well as kissing him passionately while wrapping her arms around him.

Ikuto did the same as well, hugging and kissing her passionately while holding her as he was relieved that she's okay and it shows that their love for each other has cemented deeply than ever before and after that long-lasting kiss, Ikuto held onto her as just caressed her cheek softly and he said, "I thought I had lost you."

"I thought I lost you too, Ikuto. I knew you were still alive." Yuki said, tearfully.

Ikuto was almost in tears too when he took a long look at her beautiful face and just gently held onto it and said, "I was afraid that I wouldn't see this beautiful face again. When that jerk told me that you were killed by him, I just lost it. I felt like I had failed to protect you sooner. But I'm so happy that you're okay."

"I knew Kuzan was lying to me about this. I had heard that he was gonna kill you first and then me last." Yuki replied.

"Well, we're here now. Kuzan's the one that ought to leave us alone and he's gonna pay for what he did to you." Ikuto said, very serious.

"And then some!"

Ikuto and Yuki looked up and saw Max, Akashi, Akami, Marceline, Takamoto, Kira, Miyo, Mason, Marcus, Seto, Kaiba, the rest of Crimson Wolf and Kuzan's prisoners and victims banding together to take down Kuzan and Ikuto was amazed by the size of the crowd coming in and he said, "What are they all doing here?"

"We're all here to fight Kuzan and give him just what he deserves." Max replied, stepping in.

"And we're all gonna take him down together." Sally said, appearing quickly.

Just then, they hear a distant moan from behind and as Yuki turns around, she sees movement in Kuzan as he gets himself up a little bruised and beaten up and stumbling, but the minute he looks up and sees a throng of people looking at him, he could tell that this was gonna be war and he's very well prepared for this and he said, "You're gonna be outnumbered because my guards will finish you off!"

Kuzan was unaware that several of his army and guards were already massacred and slain by the entire crew and as he calls them out loud, no answer. Kuzan knew something was up when they didn't respond back immediately and he shouted, "Where are my guards?!"

"You mean...where were your guards?" Sally counter asked, revealing what was left of his guards.

When Kuzan realized that they had something to do with this, rage and fury coursed all over his insides as he snarled at all of them and he said, "You killed my extra guards?! Now you're gonna get it!"

"You never should've brought harm to my daughter!" Max roared.

"Your daughter is a disobedient little skank. You should've killed her when she was born!" Kuzan roared back.

That one comment immediately infuriated Max and he went over to Kuzan to punch him straight to the face and slam him down to the ground and afterwards, Akashi, Akami, Marceline, Takamoto, Miyo and Kira each came in and punched him down and Akashi punched, kicked and slammed him down to the face while Miyo just straight up clawed him to the face and back, causing Kuzan to yowl in pain.

Marceline used her powers to slam and attack him down hard while Takamoto used his pranking skills to good use as he threw some water balloons with some slime underneath it. Kuzan growls in response and said, "Those are my best outfits from Dubai! Do you know how hard it was to find them?!"

"Well, now it's half-off and it matches with your slimy brain." Kira retorted.

Kuzan immediately slapped Kira straight to the face hard, which did not sit well for Akashi and he punched him to the jaw and flipped him to the ground, shouting, "Never put your hands on my daughter!"

Kira went ahead and slapped Kuzan back harder, but with her claws straight to the face this time around, leaving a lot of marks on his face and he goes into attack Kira, but Ikuto punched him down hard and slammed him to the ground. Meanwhile, Marcus, Mason, Kaiba and Seto each went ahead and knocked the crap out of him with their own weapons; Mason using a staff, Kaiba; a sai, Seto; his bare knuckles and swords and Marcus; his own claws and quick agility to tear him up.

Yuki looks up and sees the remaining extra guards coming out with weapons drawn and she shouted, "BATTLE TIME!"

* * *

Second half of the battle is on!


	33. Final Showdown pt 2

Second half of the big showdown and it gets more awesomer than ever!

* * *

Final Showdown, pt. 2

The extra guards immediately came into attack mode as they fought everyone off, but Akashi, Max, Miyo and the Crimson Wolf team, plus the prisoners at Kuzan's prison cave fought back harder than ever as they punched out every single guard possible and most of them were between the ages of 15-24, determined to fight back and gain back what's rightfully theirs; their freedom. Half of the Crimson Wolves fought the guards with all of their might while the rest of the prisoners; ages 25-78 fought harder than ever and planned to go after Kuzan.

One of them was the old wolf as he sees some of Kuzan's guards coming after him, he immediately did a swift kick straight to the guards' jaw, twirled his cane around and started swinging at them hard with the use of his cane as well as his fists. Some of the guards were astonished that this old wolf has some skilled like an able-bodied young warrior despite his age.

"Get that old man!" the guards shouted.

The old wolf looks up and studies their movements and where they're gonna throw their weapons, so he took extra precaution as he goes up and bashes them straight to the head with his cane and his knuckles and he flips, punches, kicks and sucker-jabbed them towards the unmentionable parts.

After they got knocked out, Akashi was amazed by how skilled this old wolf is and he was literally speechless and the old wolf looked at him for a second, then smiled and said, "I used to know your father. He was a great man and an even better fighter."

But Akashi had no time to ask questions as he found himself cornered by some bonus guards coming in after him and he immediately used his aura and knock them down hard and impacted them hard as he fought and fought with every rapid speed movement he could muster and gained an excessive amount of strength and quickness in his fighting skills.

He grabbed one of the guards by the legs and bashed them around like a rag doll and then throws them down hard with a swift uppercut kick as it sent the guard and the others hurtling through the walls and soon enough, the rocks came down on them, slamming them all down underneath it. Akashi looks on, wipes the sweat off of his brow and just walked on.

Meanwhile, Rex and a young 15-year old white-grey wolf were cornered by six guards to take them down, but Rex immediately knew what to do. He grabs one of the chains, swings it all around and then bashed one guard in the head with it while the young wolf leaps over and attacks them fiercely as he tears up the guard's skin and just inadvertly kicks them down hard.

Rex takes some of them on with his chain and swipes them straight to the head, face, shin and arms all while punching them out cold and clawing them straight to the face. He pants heavily with a snarl and said, "That's for my siblings."

The young grey-white wolf knocks them out with his fists and just throws them down the cliff and shouts, "That's for my grandfather!"

Rex looks at the young wolf and said, "You really know when to strike, do ya, Raikoda?"

"You know it, Rex. I've been waiting for this since I was 12." Raikoda replied.

Just then, half of the Crimson Moon members plus Lei, Yang, Mason, Marcus, Kaiba and Seto fiercely attacked some of Kuzan's crew members and Lei used her chain hammer to bash them straight to the face while Yang fiercely attacks them with his fists, but also with a chain hammer as he bashes every single bone in their bodies.

All the Crimson Wolf members took care of business as they took out the extra guards with the assistance of Jeff, Lulu, Sally, Laz and Rize as they fought them harder than ever and most of the others were busy scaring them and fighting them with the use of their weapons and scary looks and Jeff, Sally, Lulu, Rize and Laz quickly stabbed, sliced and ate their body parts down a notch.

Some of the Crimson Wolves were astonished by some of the spirit kids' finishing moves and one said, "You just made our job easier."

"Remind us not to mess with you guys." another Crimson wolf replied.

Max comes over and sees Yuki, Kira and Ikuto surrounding Kuzan and he knows that he has to interfere at whatever costs and protect Yuki, but doesn't want to run the risk of being killed or watch his daughter get killed in the process.

"And then there were three...that will have their last day on earth." Kuzan said, snarling.

Max immediately pops up and faces Kuzan in front of him and with an angry, low snarl, he said, "Leave my daughter be!"

"Dad! You should fight the other guards!" Yuki exclaimed.

"I will...once I take care of him!" Max shouted.

Kuzan smirks at Max and he takes out his sword and said, "You'll have made a big mistake."

Akashi comes in the mix and growls at Kuzan and said, "If you think you're gonnd do more harm on my niece, you got another thing coming!"

"My guards will tear you up!" Kuzan shouted.

"What guards?" Akashi said, with a very low growl.

Kuzan froze for a second and hopes that Akashi was bluffing, but when he looks at the last remains of the battle, he sees most of his guards killed, slaughtered, buried dead or body parts sliced all over the place and it confirms that they were no match for the rest of the fighters. His rage started boiling over and turns to Yuki and he said, "This is all your fault! Now you're gonna pay! Say goodbye to your life!"

Ikuto stepped in, growling angrily and he said, "You're gonna have to go through me first! If you're not less of a coward!"

* * *

The final three parter of the action is coming your way!


	34. Final Showdown pt 3

The final face-off between Ikuto and Kuzan! Who will win?!

* * *

Final Showdown, pt. 3

Ikuto and Kuzan were looking around each other as they circled around, waiting to strike and the tension has never been higher before as Ikuto gets himself ready to take down Kuzan and give him a huge lesson on messing with Yuki or any other girl and victims he could take advantage of, but Kuzan was deeply confident that Ikuto will be slaughtered and Yuki will be killed too and he's gonna do whatever it takes to take him down and before long, Kuzan immediately lunges at Ikuto and attacks him by clawing him in the face, but is shocked when he finds that he missed.

That gave Ikuto the opportunity to fiercely go for the attack and punch him directly to the stomach, slam him to the wall with his hind legs and as Ikuto watches him fall, he's irritated that Kuzan got back on his feet and Kuzan got ahold of his gold chains and is swinging them around to bash Ikuto with it, but Ikuto was very quick to miss and dodge his aims. Kuzan was obviously annoyed by Ikuto's quick draw agility and wanted to knock him down, but doesn't get the opportunity.

Kuzan was fed up with this and he immediately punched, slammed and clawede Ikuto straight to the face, causing a huge howl of pain out of Ikuto and Yuki was completely shocked and horrified that Kuzan just did that to him, but Kuzan wasn't finished with him yet. He punched, kicked, slammed and sucked-smacked him down to the ground and immediately kicks him straight to the guts hard. Ikuto started groaning in pain as he spat out blood in his mouth the minute Kuzan keeps violently attacking him.

Kira immediately went over and pounced him in all fours, rolling around and punching him straight to the face and stomach and she fiercely kicked him to the face again and flipped him all across the ground and slammed him to the wall. She panted heavily and then went forward and bashed him in the head with her foot, unsheathing her foot claws towards his head. Kuzan feels the claws penetrating deep to his head and blood spilled out of it and Kuzan counterattacks her with a slight punch to the mouth and he pulls out his dagger to kill her and he said, "You should never have interfered!"

"Nobody messes with my cousin and my best friend and gets away with it!" Kira shouted, angrily.

"You know, I wasn't planning on killing you because you're not a part of my list...but you've just earned a spot on my victims' list!" Kuzan shouted.

Akashi stepped in and punched him down hard and violently attacked him with everything he got after hearing that Kuzan's putting Kira in the latest list of his victims to do whatever he wants with her and he said, "My daughter will never be in your little list!"

"She earned it! She'll work better as my rape victim!" Kuzan shouted.

Akashi growled angrily and then kept punching him out and Miyo stepped in and slammed him down and violently clawed him down with her claws and threw him towards the wall hard. While Akashi and Miyo fought Kuzan, Yuki comes over to Ikuto and tends to him and she looks at him and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Yuki. This jerk got me really good." Ikuto replied, having some drips of blood come out of his face.

She comes closer to him, then places her paws onto his face and her forehead against his and she closed her eyes and soon enough, her stripes changed from black and white to white and blue in a split second and with a gentle touch, it helped make Ikuto's scars disappear in a quick second. When she opened her eyes and her stripes changed back to normal, she slowly lets go of his face and within a few seconds, his wounds are gone.

That shocked Ikuto, but also surprised him to know that Yuki could actually do that and he felt no blood as he touched his cheeks and face and he was amazed by how she healed him and he said, "How did you...?"

"I sorta have a little bit of healing powers. I don't know how I got it, but it just happens to people I care about and love." Yuki replied.

"Wow...thank you." Ikuto said, blown away.

Just then, they heard a scream out of nowhere and looks up and saw Kuzan stabbing the old wolf multiple times and they see a panicked and outraged Raikoda screaming in complete horror to watch his grandfather get stabbed by Kuzan. When the old wolf falls down, Raikoda takes his fury out on Kuzan and he immediately punches, kicks and strikes him down hard and grabs his sword and puts it directly towards his neck to stab him with it. Akashi, Max and Mason rushed in to stop Raikoda while Rex and Miyo tended to the old wolf and helps him out.

"Get off of me! He killed my grandfather!" Raikoda shouted.

"This is not the way to handle him out of revenge! Trust me, I've lived through it before!" Akashi shouted back.

Raikoda was a mixture of anger and obvious sorrow that his grandfather was killed by Kuzan in front of his eyes and there was nothing more than watch him die to avenge him, but Akashi didn't want him to do something he'll later regret soon and the last thing he would want is to be a murderer at 15 because he knows that position all too well and wouldn't want the young wolf to be another statistic.

Kuzan looks up at Yuki and he slowly comes onto her and he snatched her away from Ikuto and pins her to the wall, still holding the blood-soaked dagger and he stared at her with so much hate and venom and he's ready to end her and said, "This is what happens when you disobey me. Had you kept your mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened. All of this was your fault."

Ikuto was not gonna watch his beloved girlfriend get killed and he immediately re-summoned Rake to come out and come out underneath the ground and as Rake came out, Ikuto was already ready to take down Kuzan and he wrapped the chain around Kuzan's ankle, which made him trip and get caught in the chain and Ikuto whacked him in the head with the chain hammer.

He comes over towards Kuzan, gets in his face and said, "You'll never harm Yuki or any other girl ever again. I'll protect her with my life...because I love her."

One final blow to the head by Ikuto's hammer and Ikuto turns to Rake and gives him the okay to finally eat him up and Rake immediately runs over and eats him down and for Yuki, that was a sign of relief that her worries are now over. Kuzan is finally dead.

Yuki sighs in relief and she runs straight into Ikuto's arms and hug him tightly and Ikuto hugs her back and they kiss each other on the lips so much that they don't want to let go. Not even for a brief moment because it deeply confirms that their love is still growing and it remains the same and her nightmare was finally over and that she can just focus on her relationship with Ikuto.

"I love you so much, Ikuto." Yuki said, tearfully.

"I love you too, Yuki." Ikuto said, whispering, carressing her forehead softly.

Just then, thye heard the old wolf groaning in pain and rushed over to help, but unfortunately...Kuzan's stab wounds were so deep, that it's impossible for this old wolf to live or be healed and Raikoda was completely in tears and just at a loss on how he can comprehend with this and Rex was deeply affected by this because for most of those 3 years in Kuzan's prison, the old wolf has been a bright light for him.

"Grandpa...please don't die." Raikoda said, in tears.

The old wolf looks at his grandson and he said to him, "Don't worry about me, Rai. You've always been a good boy and you'll be a much better man."

Rex looks at the old wolf and he said to him, "You were the glue that holds us together and you had always told me that there's gonna be a bright light at the end of the tunnel. If it wasn't for you, me and my siblings wouldn't even be out of Kuzan's clutches."

"Just keep your head up, Rex." the old wolf responded.

Then, the old wolf looks up at Akashi and he said, "Can you take my grandson in? He needs a family."

Akashi nodded his head in agreement and said, "I'll do my best to take care of him."

Raikoda tearfully looks at his grandfather and he just didn't want his grandfather to go and soon enough, he heard his grandfather tell him, "Your parents would be proud of you for the young man you're turning out to be."

Just then, he took his last breath and laid down for the final time as he passes away and Raikoda immediately broke down crying and everyone was deeply emotional through the whole thing. Even though they've won the battle, it's definitely a bittersweet victory. But they know now that the old wolf is in a better place and that Kuzan is gone for good.

* * *

Kuzan's finally gone, but the victory was bittersweet. Stay tuned for more!


	35. Where to Go From Here

After the final showdown, everything has gone through a bittersweet moment where Raikoda's grandfather was killed by Kuzan. This chapter asks that question...

* * *

Where To Go from Here

After that fierce battle, everyone was silent as they left Kuzan's prison cave and headed for home and the outcome of it was both successful and also bittersweet because one of Kuzan's prisoners was killed before Kuzan was killed as well and some of the Crimson Wolf members carried the old wolf's dead body as they were walking. Despite the tragedy, Max, Akashi and Ikuto are deeply grateful that Yuki's alive and safe...especially Ikuto.

Ikuto was especially grateful that his girlfriend's safe and sound and he gets to hold her closely...hand-in-hand and it would prove to be a testament strength of loyalty bvetween the two of them and the whole situation received the brighter side of this dark ordeal: it made Ikuto and Yuki's relationship even stronger.

Meanwhile, Raikoda is still in a huge array of sorrow and sadness over his grandfather's death and it's like he lost a part of him after witnessing him die in Kuzan's hands; a certain event that will affect him for the rest of his life and he knows he'll never forgive Kuzan for it. Rex could tell that this took a deep toll on the young wolf and he comes over to comfort him alongside Rainbow and Luke and just do his best to make sure he's not alone.

Raikoda looked at them for a quick second, but he's still focused on mourning the loss of his grandfather that he didn't even give it a lot of thought...until Rex hugged him tightly that he acknowledges Rex comforting him and Raikoda hugs him back as he breaks down crying and he deeply appreciates that.

Soon enough, the Crimson Wolf members spotted a boat several miles from a nearby river and thought that it would be a farewell burial to the old wolf and some of the Crimson members brought in a couple of blankets and covers and they wrapped it all around the old wolf and gently set his dead body inside the boat and afterwards, they set the boat away in a misty river and the skies look like it's about to rain.

After the boat was set off, Mason and Marcus played a mournful, beautiful tune using their flute as a send-off goodbye song as everyone stood there with their hands on their hearts and while it became a somber moment, Raikoda looked on with tears in his eyes and it made it so hard to hold it in, but it made him realize that even if they were free together, he would've thought about all the things he would've done with his grandfather if they had the opportunity.

A few minutes later, Akashi looked at some of Kuzan's victim prisoners and he said to them, "We're so sorry that you had to live in such conditions in those years and being taken advantage of by that creep. But now you guys are free and you're gonna go back to your families. For those that lost their families after being prisoned by Kuzan, you guys have an opportunity to be a part of the Crimson Wolf recruits if you want to make a huge difference."

Most of the former prisoners stepped up and accepted the opportunity while the others dispersed in freedom to go back to their families while the others made an opportunity to start their new lives; especially the young ones and the future of Raikoda is gonna be spent with Akashi and he hopes that he'll fit in with them. For Rex and his siblings...they need to find a place to stay for a while and the number-one choice is to find them a place for them to live.

As Akashi and Max formulate a plan to find housing for Rex and his siblings, Ikuto and Yuki were the only ones standing and Ikuto pulls something out of his pocket and once Yuki saw the silver striped necklace, she was amazed by this and she said, "That's so beautiful."

"I found it just for you. It used to be my mom's and if I were to find the one of my dreams, I'd give it to them. And Yuki...you're the one of my dreams." Ikuto said, putting the necklace on her.

She was so happy to have that necklace and she felt deeply grateful that Ikuto would do this for her and she said, "Thank you so much, Ikuto."

"I love you and I would put my life on the line for you...because I love you. I thought that I would never get a chance to give you the necklace. You're my cherished treasure." Ikuto said, carressing her cheek.

Yuki felt Ikuto's gentle touch and he grabs ahold of his hand and just kissed each other in the mouth and just then, the rain comes pouring down on both of them. But they were just so happy to be in each other's arms, they didn't care if they were soaking wet. They kissed and kissed and even let their tongues explore around each other's mouths for a full on 12 minutes.

After that 12-minute liplock, they looked into each other's eyes again and Yuki said, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"So do I. Nothing will tear us both apart." Ikuto said, in a half-whisper.

"Hey, lovebirds! You guys coming home or what?" Kira exclaimed.

Ikuto and Yuki looked at each other and made their way back home with Akashi, Max and the rest of the clan as the horrible ordeal has come to a happy end and Yuki goes with Ikuto, hand-in-hand in the rain with nothing but their love fully locked in.

* * *

The second reunion comes back with Yuki! Stay tuned!


	36. Yuki's Safe!

And the moment where Yuki's nightmare was over for good!

* * *

Yuki's Safe!

While the rain was pouring, Yuki could feel some of her fur soaking wet and Ikuto brought out his hoodie and wraps it around Yuki to keep her warm and dry a little bit and she deeply appreciates that conduct he made and they were nearly on their way home when they see little Maximus II standing there in the rain and once Yuki sees him, she immediately runs towards the yard and comes over to hug Maximus II tightly and he hugs her back very deeply. Maximus II was almost crying the minute he hugged his big sister tightly and saw her standing there and he said, "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Yuki said, almost tearful.

Maximus II lets go for a second and has tears in his eyes and he said, "I was so worried that I'd never see you again."

"I'm right here now. And I'll never leave you again." Yuki said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

The rest of them walked over to the front of the house and they were pretty much emotional from witnessing this sweet moment...mostly Ikuto. Just then, Saori opened the door and sees Yuki safe and sound and she immediately came towards her daughter and hugs her tightly, with tears coming out of Saori's eyes.

"Oh, my Yuki. Did the creep try to hurt you?" asked Saori, looking at her while holding her.

"He tried to...but I escaped from his clutches. He's dead now." Yuki answered.

That brought a huge sigh of relief to Saori after hearing that Ikuto's dead and gone and she looks up at Ikuto and Akashi and he comes over and hugs both of them tightly and Yuki immediately walks in the house alongside Maximus II and she walks upstairs and notices some of the anxious younger siblings waiting for her in Marcus' room and once she does, she immediately gets pummeled by Serenity, Sapphire, Jason, Akashi II, Shinoda, Aurora and the two adopted orphans; a male black panther named Mikey and a male mountain lion named Dax.

"Are you okay?" asked Sapphire.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yuki answered.

Yuki was definitely happy to be back home at last...in one piece and reuniting with her siblings and two soon-to-be-adopted siblings and Jason said, "Where's that monster now?"

"He won't be bothering me...or any other girl anymore." Yuki answered.

"We're just happy that you're safe." Serenity responded.

Soon enough, they see Mason, Marcus, Seto and Kaiba come in the room and get into the traditional family pile because they're just so happy to be back together again and all of it made their bond stronger and come together even more. All of them were unaware that Max, Saori, Akashi, Miyo, Akami, Kira, Marceline, Takamoto, Sonya and the others enjoying this moment.

And for Yuki...she's just happy that this is gonna be put behind her and focus on the good times she has with her family.

* * *

And speaking of family...the future of these prisoner orphans is on the bend. Stay tuned to see what happens next!


	37. Future of the Young Victims

And now...we see what happens to the rest of the orphans. And Max makes a very big decision.

* * *

Future of the Young Victims

As Yuki reunites with her siblings upstairs, everyone else downstairs discusses the future of the young victims as some of them were in the house; tired, afraid and a little bit unsure of where to go from here. Among them, several teenagers from different species; ranging from wolves to tigers, lions, panthers and leopards, ages 15-19, young adults from ages 20-24 and young cubs and kids from ages 4-14 in which most of the older kids are either biological or some of them took them in as their brother or sister.

Some of the Crimson Wolf members were a little concerned for their future and they know that they need some guidance and give them a good home and a family and Akashi said, "These guys need a place to call home and be safe and secure, but we also know that we've got kids of our own and the last thing we should do is place them in an orphanage."

Max thought about this for a quick second and he was thinking expanding his kids to 16 by taking in one of them at the most and he looked at Saori for a minute and immediately Saori could tell that Max was gonna take in one of them and add them to the family and she said, "Are you sure, Max?"

"Yeah. We've wanted a big family and why not have one more adopted child?" Max replied.

Akashi's ears perked up at that idea and he said, "Are you kidding? You guys got a big enough family."

"Well...what else can we do?" asked Max.

Miyo could tell that Max had a very strong point there that one of these kids need stability and if Max and Saori are willing to bring in one more adopted kids, why not do so? She then said to Max and Saori, "Are you guys gonna adopt one?"

"Well, we weren't planning to because we've got the two adopted cubs already. But after seeing all of those poor cubs, they need a good home and a good family and we'd be selfish to turn them away." Saori replied.

"Please be selfish for one minute. You've got enough kids as it is." Akashi pleaded.

Akashi's response made Miyo give him a swift slap in the back to the head and she said, "Akashi! You've been an uncle to their kids for years! You can handle having another one!"

Just then, some of the Crimson Wolf members stepped in and suggested to step up to the plate to take in some of those kids whether some of them have kids of their own, married but have no kids or if some of them were single parents or just single without kids and Mason even suggested to taking in some of the orphans as well and it was finally all settled and Akashi had agreed to take in Raikoda as his own wolf son and raise him. The one question; what of Rex and his siblings?

Suko stepped in and suggested to take in Rex and his younger siblings and raise them despite having two sons and three daughters of his own, but he's willing to do his best to do so and he said, "I'll take in the three panthers and raise them as if they were my own. My wife's expecting anyway and we've always wanted a huge family so this would be a special thing for both of us."

"Very kind of you, Suko." Akashi responded.

Soon enough, some of the Crimson Wolf members walk by the living room and they pretty much had their choices cut out for them, but they knew which ones they would want to take in. After almost an hour and a half of making their choices, all that's left was three cubs; one male Bengal tiger cub; one female snow leopard cub and one male white wolf cub that were anxiously waiting to see who's next and when they saw that the Crimson Wolf members left, they were really disappointed that they didn't get adopted.

And yet another male snow leopard cub was just waiting to see who's getting adopted next and soon enough, the last five orphans saw Max and Saori come in along with Suko, plus Rex, Rainbow and Luke and as Suko makes his way out, Max looks up at the five orphans...including the female black wolf cub as he looks at all of them and said, "Well...it looks like you five are here with us."

"Who's gonna take us in?" the worried female snow leopard asked.

Max gathers them all together and tells them, "We're gonna take you guys in."

Some of them were a little surprised to hear that while one wasn't so sure about this and the male white wolf cub said, "Honest?"

"Very honest. You guys need a better life here and a family that really loves you and cares about you." Max added.

Saori agreed with this and she said, "Think of this as your new life right here and where you guys can start over. We promise you that we'll do everything we can to raise you all."

"But don't you already have kids?" asked the male Bengal tiger cub.

"Yeah, we do. But we believe that every child deserves a second chance and a better family that will provide shelter, protection and love. We're willing to do what we can to take care of you five." Saori added.

Five of those cubs seem reluctant at first, but once they realized that they really meant what they said, they seemed willing to open up and the male white wolf cub immediately ran towards Max and hugged him tightly and the other three followed suit as well, leaving the male Bengal tiger cub a little guarded to see this and once Saori walks over to the Bengal cub, she got on his level and said, "Give us a chance."

She reaches out and hugs him tightly and the young Bengal tiger cub wraps his arms around his new mother and he sheds a few tears afterwards that he's gonna be a part of a family. A few minutes later, Mason, Seto, Yuki, Kaiba, Sereniyu, Sapphire, Jason, Maximus II, Akashi II, Shinoda, Aurora and Marcus walked downstairs alongside Sonya and Ikuto and they were surprised to see the last five cubs standing here and Seto asked, "What's going on, guys?"

"Guys...these are your new brothers and sisters." Max said, bringing in the five orphaned cubs.

"Now we got people to play with!" Maximus II said, excitedly.

The five cubs walks over to the other kids and sees them for the first time and Kaiba said, "Welcome to the family, guys."

"It feels great for some reason." the female black wolf replied.

Jason chuckled at this and said, "Trust us...it never gets boring."

* * *

We've got the drama behind us! Next up...Ikuto's 20th birthday!


	38. Ikuto's Birthday Surprise

We're close to concluding the fic when Yuki comes to celebrate Ikuto's special day.

* * *

Ikuto's Birthday Suprise

5 weeks have passed since the battle and things were looking up for Yuki as she enjoys every second of the day with her ever-growing family and she has a lot to enjoy; having her boyfriend Ikuto around, catching up with family life, having new adopted additons to her family, like the two orphans rescued from Japan as well as the five orphans that were held prisoner at Kuzan's cave and nothing could be more better for her.

But one particular early morning, she was making her way to Ikuto's house because it's a very special day for him; his 20th birthday. She wanted to spend her day with him to celebrate this occasion and be there...but keep it as a surprise for Ikuto. By the time she had reached the house, the sky was filled with an early sunrise before it actually came up and she knocked on the door, waiting for an response and suddenly, the door opens and there's Lei standing there, looking surprised to see her.

"Yuki! What a nice surprise!" Lei said, happily.

"Hi, Lei. I just wanted to surprise Ikuto on his birthday. I know it's still early in the morning, but I couldn't pass up this chance." Yuki answered.

Lei smiled at this and she said, "You know, Ikuto's been talking about you in his sleep. Each time I hear his voice when he's asleep or when he snores, he thinks of you. You ought to check on him."

Yuki was surprised to hear this, but she entered in the house and tiptoed up the steps on the way to Ikuto's room, but she heard Ikuto snore and mumble in his sleep and she poked her head towards the room and to her surprise, she saw Ikuto's backside raising up in the air, then shifts into back in his bed with his foot sticking up in the air and talk and moan in his sleep.

"Oh, Yuki...I want to spend the rest of my life with you..." Ikuto moans, then goes back to snoring.

She then sees Ikuto sucking his thumb a little bit, which she finds both weird and cute at the same time and he keeps snoring and soon enough, he stops sucking his thumb and proceeds to lick himself, imagining that it was Yuki there. Yuki widened her eyes at this and figured that this is a typical wolf thing, but she's not really one to judge.

She got a little closer towards the edge of Ikuto's bed, then whispers in his ear, "Happy birthday, Ikuto."

"Mmm...Yuki..." Ikuto mumbled.

Just then, Yuki got a little closer to Ikuto's face and then kisses him in the nose, hoping that he'll wake up and by the time Ikuto opened his eyes and saw Yuki right in front of him, he went from dreaming to full-fledged awkwardness and shock as he didn't expect Yuki to come by and he fell down from his bed. Ikuto got himself up and stood up with just his black tank top on and said, "Hey, Yuki. What are you doing here?"

"Well...I just wanted to come see you because today's your birthday." Yuki answered.

Ikuto chuckled softly in response and said, "Thanks. You know, I started to think you wouldn't remember."

"How can I forget about my boyfriend's birthday?" Yuki asked.

Ikuto smiled at that and he couldn't stop smiling or look at her smile and she looked at him for a while and Ikuto said, "Good point."

"So...you sucked your thumb and licked yourself thinking about me, I see." Yuki replied.

Soon, Ikuto went from smiling to embarrassed in a quick second as he blushed deeply and covered himself with his robe and said, "You saw that?"

"Uh...yes." Yuki answered.

Ikuto sighed heavily and just felt really stupid and said, "It's a wolf thing, you know. But...I didn't know you had noticed."

"Don't worry...I won't tell anyone." Yuki whispered, winking.

Ikuto nods in response and he said, "Thanks."

He then removed his robe and puts on his underwear and silk pants, but leaves his tank top on and Yuki said, "How does it feel being 20?"

"Um...not sure yet. But I know I'm excited about what's gonna come my way." Ikuto answered.

Yuki comes close to Ikuto and kissed him in the cheek and said, "I can't wait to celebrate your special day with you."

"Me too." Ikuto answered.

* * *

Let's just say that when Ikuto sleeps and thinks about Yuki, he tends to sorta...do what normal dogs do when they think of girls. The last chapter is coming up next!


	39. A Special Gift

And finally...Yuki gives something for Ikuto on his birthday and it is...special.

* * *

A Special Gift

Throughout the day, Yuki spent a lot of time with Ikuto on his 20th birthday as he shows Yuki around a couple of places that he hangs out in when he gets some time to himself and it really shows that Ikuto's willing to share those places with his future mate because the love runs deeper than anything. Ever since the defeat of Kuzan, the two have never been much more closer than anything and it literally made their cross-species relationship grow stronger by the minute and it shows no signs of questioning in differences. Ikuto showed Yuki his hideaway places from a huge hill with a spectacular view of the sun to an open secluded forest area with a huge tree that reaches close to the sky, a waterfall with a cave behind it and an abandoned village that Ikuto calls his future home.

Yuki was immediately blown away by this place and she just pictured it as the picture-perfect place for spending a lot of time there together and she said, "This is really incredible."

"I had found it 5 years ago because it used to be someone's home that originated there. The best place about it is that it's private, no one could ever find it except for friends and family and when the sun goes down, you can barely tell that the sun was there. I spend a little bit of my time there...sometimes until like 10:30." Ikuto answered.

"It's a really great place. What do you do there?" asked Yuki.

"Meditate, some training on my own, hang out on the inside of the house or cave, climb trees to watch the sunset, howl at the moon at night...things like that. But I had already thought about living there and spend the rest of my life with that special someone that I will someday marry." Ikuto replied, looking at Yuki at the last part.

Yuki blinks her eyes and smiles at Ikuto and said, "Sounds nice."

"Yuki...I want to make a promise to you." Ikuto said, holding her paws.

Yuki was listening to whatever Ikuto has to say in his heart and Ikuto said, "I promise that I'll do everything in my power to protect you, keep you safe and put your life above mine. There's nothing I want more other than spending the rest of my life with you."

"I want that same thing too. Ikuto...I wouldn't want anyone else to spend my life with other than you." Yuki added.

"Everytime I see your beautiful face, my tail wags for you so fast." Ikuto responded.

Yuki saw Ikuto's tail wag faster and goes up as well and it really made her feel amazed that his tail wags only for her and she said, "Each time I hear your voice, I feel safe and warm."

"When I look into your eyes, my heart melts so hard." Ikuto added.

"Whenever you touch me, I just freeze and just feel weak at the knees and I get so breathless everytime." Yuki added.

Ikuto looked directly into Yuki's eyes very deeply and she stared back at him and both of them kisses each other on the lips while wrapping their arms around each other and it's a very deep passionate kiss where they had explored in each other's mouths, evoking into a huge love session where the kiss lasts 13 minutes and both of them are really happy to be in each other's lives and neither one of them could imagine their lives without each other.

After just 13 minutes of full-on passionate kissing, they paused and looked at each other in the eye as Yuki smiled at him and with a little hint of pep in her, she said, "I have a little surprise for you."

"What's that?" Ikuto asked, his ears perked up.

Yuki giggled at this and she said, "You'll have to wait until your birthday celebration tonight."

Ikuto was definitely willing to be patient just for her, but he's definitely passionate when it comes to surprises and his tail wags in response to this and he's just excited about what's gonna happen later on his birthday.

Later that evening

Yuki and the rest of her siblings alongside Max, Saori, Miyo, Lei and several of the Crimson Wolf members and their newly adopted children were gathered around the Yashida house to surprise Ikuto on his birthday and Lei came to Yuki and said, "This was a great idea to bring in some of Ikuto's old friends."

"Thanks. I had to find where they live and once they found out it was his birthday, they were ready to surprise him." Yuki answered.

"He'll definitely appreciate you for it." Miyo added.

"Guys, Ikuto's coming!" Maximus II shouted.

Just then, everyone went to their hiding spots very quickly and Lei darkened the room up a little bit before Ikuto could even come in and once it was very quiet, they could hear the door open and in comes Ikuto, Yang, Kira and Akashi coming in the room and Ikuto was a little confused as to why it's so dark in there and he said, "Can you guys see anything?"

"Not a thing." Kira replied.

"Hey, Yang...mind if you open a few windows?" asked Akashi.

Akashi knew what he was gonna be up to as Yang opened all the windows and as soon as everything's brightened up...

"SURPRISE!"

That jolt of surprise was unexpected for Ikuto and as he looks up, he couldn't believe his eyes as everyone was in his house for his birthday and everyone said, "Happy birthday, Ikuto!"

Ikuto took a few deep breaths to get over the happy shock he received and he said, "Whoa...all of this for me? You guys..."

Just then, several of Ikuto's old friends came by and wolf piled him and Ikuto was so happy to see them that he definitely didn't see that coming and he said, "You guys are here! This is so awesome!"

"Were you surprised, Ikuto?" asked Maximus II.

Ikuto chuckles a bit and replied, "Yeah, I was definitely surprised. This is so cool!"

"Well...it was all your girlfriend's idea." Suko responded.

Ikuto looks up at Yuki as she came over towards him and puts on a party hat and Yuki told him, "Told you this would be worth the wait."

"You're awesome, Yuki." Ikuto said, happily.

Just then, everyone celebrated this day with a dinner and some cake; Ikuto's favorite butterscotch chocolate on the shape of a full moon and the whole evening was completely the best times of Ikuto's life and after the party, Yuki and Ikuto were looking at the moon outside and now was the perfect time to give him a little gift. She pulls out a little piece of jewelry from her pocket and puts it on Ikuto's neck and once Ikuto looked at it, he was surprised to see a silver-gold yin-yang necklace.

"Is that...?" asked Ikuto, very surprised.

"Yep. We're two halves of a whole. You're my better half and I'm your other better half as well. This way, we both help each other whenever we can." Yuki answered.

"That's amazing. I love it so much. Thank you." Ikuto said, smiling.

"I hope you had a great birthday." Yuki said, smiling back.

Ikuto looked deep into Yuki's eyes and said, "I have the best birthday ever along with my awesome girlfriend. I couldn't think of anything else better than that."

Both of them were definitely lucky to have each other in their lives and wouldn't trade it in for anything else in the world other than spend the rest of their lives with each other.

* * *

Pretty much the end of the story! Stay tuned for the epilogue!


	40. Epilogue

And here's how things have turned for the better post-Kuzan confrontation!

* * *

Epilogue

In the months that had followed since the events that occured, things were looking up for not only Yuki and the Bushido-Akio clan, but also for Yuki and Ikuto as well as their relationship grew a heck of a lot stronger as they've remained together as a couple. Ikuto made sure that Yuki is safe, loved and protected and has a very soft heart towards her. He may have his moments with his temper often times, but Yuki could always help him calm him down from time to time in case he loses it. The number-one thing that Ikuto would never dare to do with his temper is take it out on Yuki and hurt her. He loves her too much to do any harm to her and the thing about Yuki, she can always help him with anything and what he loves about her is not only her beauty, but her golden heart.

During those months, Saori had finally given birth to their 12th and final child, Joy Aiko Bushido-Akio Okami as well as taking in two orphans; Mikey, a 12-year old black panther and Dax, an 8-year old mountain lion as a huge part of the Bushido-Akio family. But not only that...but they also took in the five orphans who were prisoners in Kuzan's prison cave; the 14-year old male Bengal tiger named Mateo, the 11-year old female snow leopard named Diamond, a 16-year old white wolf named Kenshin, a 9-year old female black wolf named Sky and the 6 year old male snow leopard named Jinshin into the family; resulting in having 20 kids in Max and Saori's house, despite having Mason having his own place with his mate, child and a few adopted kids.

Seto finally got to be a father to a healthy baby boy which they named after his father, Maximus Spyro Bushido-Akio III and he's definitely getting the chance to be the father he wants to be...and he still balances his maturity and playful nature and retires from pranking...at least for now that he occasionally pranks Yuki.

* * *

In spite of all of that, several years afterwards, Yuki and Ikuto have officially got married and they're now Mr. and Mrs. Yashida and now the Bushido-Akio/Okami clan merged with the Yashida's as they're big union and after Yuki and Ikuto were husband and wife, Max was so proud of his daughter getting married to the most awesome guy in the world, although it was kinda hard to let his first daughter go and get married. But he knows for a fact that she'll always be her sunshine and that she's in good hands.

Akashi was both happy for Yuki and Ikuto and hysterically emotional to see his niece get married and he lets it be well known by howling in tears and blowing her nose with Miyo's handkerchief...which results in Miyo slapping Akashi to the face for having his wolf snot all over her handkerchief.

Everyone in both families were so happy for Yuki and Ikuto as they finally got married and started their lives together and they know for a fact that this is gonna be the best times of their lives and they know that it's gonna be a sweet marriage between a berserker wolf and a white tigress.

"It's only just beginning." Ikuto said, looking at his new bride.

"I'm looking forward to our future together." Yuki said, happily.

Lei and Yang came by to embrace their daughter-in-law and they hugged her with huge acceptance as Lei knew that these two are meant to be together while Max and Saori embrace their son in law as the siblings welcome their new brother in law and it looks as if both families are completely embracing each other and Akashi was really happy with the fact that Lei and Yang are now members of the family and the happiest news; now that Ikuto's married to Yuki, it also means that Kira is his new cousin.

"We're cousins! Can you believe this?!" Kira said, excitedly.

"I can hardly believe it!" Ikuto replied, happily.

Just then, Kira sees her boyfriend Rex come in and he's completely smitten with this whole thing and he smiles at her and he looks at Yuki and Ikuto and said, "Congrats, you guys. You guys are definitely meant to be together."

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you." Ikuto said, smiling.

Just then, Rex's old friend Raikoda comes by and both of them have gotten much tighter than ever before and it's definitely an amazing family affair that he's happy to be a part of and everyone comes over to gather for a family picture as the bride's side stands on the left while the groom's side is on the right and this would definitely be a picture-perfect memory to cherish.

* * *

23 years later (Yuki and Ikuto are in their mid-40's, BTW; Ikuto's 45 and Yuki's 44)

Ikuto has gotten a older, wiser and much mature than ever before and he's meditating while hearing the waterfall from right behind him and felt the wind blowing through his fur as he meditates for a while.

After just 10 minutes...

"Daddy!"

Ikuto opened his eyes and sees his cub, a 5 year old berserker wolf/white tiger hybrid named after his father and he smiled as the young cub ran to his arms and Ikuto held onto him and hugged him tightly and said, "Hey, son. How are ya, buddy?"

"Great, daddy. I've just gotten a little taller." Ikuto II replied.

"Really? You are getting to become a big boy, aren't ya?" asked Ikuto.

Soon enough, in comes five more kids coming in; a teenage male berseker wolf named Rocky, another teenage male white tiger named Seth, a preteen white tigress named Faith, a young 9 year old female berserker wolf named Destiny and a white tigress/berserker wolf female hybrid named Shine with their mother behind them...seemingly pregnant with their seventh child. Ikuto gets himself up as he holds Ikuto II and walks towards his wife Yuki, kissing her on the lips and rubbing her belly to show a lot of affection and Ikuto asked, "So...how are you?"

"I'm doing pretty good. Just looking forward to our new baby cub." Yuki said, happily.

"Me too." Ikuto agreed.

"I wish we could do more kids, but I think we've reached the point where both of us are getting quite older." Yuki stated.

Ikuto figured she had a good point with that and he looked at Yuki and said, "Well...you're still very beautiful to me and that never gets old."

Yuki giggled in response to that and appreciates the compliment and kissed her wolf husband on the nose while some of the kids responded with an 'Ooooh' as they're looking and Yuki looks at the kids and said, "Seth, it's your turn to babysit Ikuto II."

"Really, mom?" asked Seth, looking a little annoyed.

Yuki gave him a stern look on her face that reads 'do as I say now' and he did do what she asked as Ikuto hands Ikuto II over to Seth as he walks inside the house with him as their oldest son Rocky looks at his mother and said, "Think it'll be a brother?"

"I kinda want another sister." Faith responded.

"There's like three sisters already. Isn't three enough?" asked Rocky.

"I wouldn't mind either way." Destiny added.

Yuki chuckles a little bit and tells them, "All right, guys. You'll know sooner or later."

* * *

Months later, in the hospital

Ikuto walks into Yuki's hospital room and when he saw his seventh-born child, he walks over and sees his new son for the first time and he was already tearing up when he saw him and Yuki said, "Say hello to your new son."

Ikuto held his new son for the first time and it was a berserker wolf with tiger stripes and he nuzzled him softly and kissed him and said, "Hey, son. Welcome to our family."

"Isn't this wonderful?" asked Yuki, tearing up.

"Yes, it is. I'm gonna name him after my father; Yang Shanghai Yashida Bushido-Akio Okami." Ikuto replied.

Minutes later, the family comes in and Rocky, Seth, Faith, Destiny, Shine and Ikuto II meet their new brother and they immediately embrace him and in comes Lei, Yang, Max, Saori, the rest of the Okami clan, plus Kira and her husband Rex comes in to be there for this amazing family moment and they couldn't imagine a much better moment than right now.

Akashi looked at his new nephew and said, "Yang II, welcome to our big family."

* * *

And that's it! Thanks to Master of Stories for letting me use his characters for this story. I'm gonna take a break from KFP fics for a while, but I'll be back with more soon! Don't know when, but it'll happen soon! I promise! Until then, AniUniverse is out!


End file.
